By Brian E. Clark
WisBusiness.com
WAUWATOSA – Individually, each of the four major building projects underway on the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center campus and the neighboring Milwaukee County Research Park is impressive.
Put them all together, however, and you get more than $425 million worth of construction, a critical mass that should give a significant boost to biotech and medical research in southeast Wisconsin.
"This will be a great engine for economic growth, and high tech growth at that," said Tom Hefty, a health care and government relations attorney with Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren and former CEO of Blue Cross of Wisconsin.
"After Madison, this will be a second hub for research in the state," he said. "Over the past decade, the amount of federal research dollars flowing to the Medical College has grown from $35 million to $130 million. I expect that to continue to increase."
While that figure is small compared to the $700-plus million in federal grants received by UW-Madison, Hefty said Milwaukee – with its large employment base – may better suited to attract large companies like GE.
Regardless, Hefty said he marvels at all the cranes hovering above buildings now under construction.
"When those facilities are finished, there will be 5,000 people working in them," he said. "That is a lot."
Here’s a rundown on the big projects – as well as a few smaller ones – on the medical center campus and in the research park:
- $120 million for a 248,000 square-foot cancer center to be shared by Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin on the medical center campus. Opening in 2007.
- $117 million for a 304,875 square-foot research center on the medical center campus that will be used by the Children’s Hospital and Health System and the Medical College of Wisconsin. The new facility will provide shared research space and two wings of laboratories, one for the health system’s new Children’s Research Institute and the other for the Medical College’s Biomedical Research Building. The first phase will open in December.
- $85 million for a 475,000 square-foot GE Healthcare building in the research park that will house the company’s information management, ultrasound and information technologies divisions. Opening later this year.
- $97 million for a 270,000 square-foot office building at Children’s Hospital for offices and clinics. Approximately 60,000 square feet will be for research. Opening later this year.
- $5 million for the 40,000 square foot Froedtert Hospital Surgery Center. Opened in May.
- $2.3 million for the 6,200 square foot Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Building. Opening this fall.
T. Michael Bolger, president of the Medical College of Wisconsin, said "we are building the infrastructure for research that will be second to none.
"It will take time, but we now have people pointed in the right direction," he said.
"The remainder of the research park is being fleshed out and we’ve created a Biomedical Technology Alliance with Marquette, UW-Madison that should produce results."
Bolger, who noted that the medical center campus has 13,000 employees, said he hopes that the research park will be able to attract both start-ups and "growing concerns that will feed off the intellectual property created by the educational institutions and other organizations already here."
Bolger said he does not view Milwaukee’s high-tech and biotech growth as a threat to Madison.
"There is a little competition, but overall I think we compliment each other very well," he said. "We can cooperate and collaborate with Madison. But the intellectual property created here will be used here."
"The way I look at it, our state needs to maximize its resources," he said. "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
Nancy Welch, development director for the city of Wauwatosa, said the clustering of medical, research and biotech companies means her city is poised for growth.
"We are confident there will be spinoffs," she said. "Collaboration between GE, the Medical College, Froedtert and Children’s Hospital will create new opportunities. We are excited about the future."
Welch’s city gave GE incentives and tax breaks to encourage it to build in Wauwatosa – rather than Illinois or other parts of the Milwaukee area. According to published reports, GE received more than $35 million in state and local help, including tax credits, low-interest loans and grants.
But the investment should pay dividends, Welch said. Once debt from loans and tax breaks are retired, the GE development should add an estimated $1.4 million in annual tax revenue.
Guy Mascari, development director for the Milwaukee County Research Park, said the presence of GE in the park gives it "tremendous prestige."
Created in 1987, he said 40 companies have located in the research park in the past decade. In addition, 37 start-ups are working out of the park’s technology incubator.
GE’s huge building will add 2,100 jobs, roughly doubling the number of workers in the park.
When built out, Mascari said the business center will have about 6,000 workers on its 115 acres.
"We have 37 acres left and we’re hoping that the construction across the highway on the medical center campus will create new companies for us down the road.
"We believe there is now a critical mass for biotechnology development in the Milwaukee area," he said.
"The regional medical center is the engine that will provide the innovations," he said. "The research park will be the recipient of spinouts coming from the medical college.
"We have finally created a cluster of biotechnology in southeastern Wisconsin," he said. "Ultimately, I think we could rival Madison."
