I recently attended a meeting organized by the Science and Technology Ventures at Columbia University, on a presentation on the plans for the East River Science Park. Those of you not familiar with this, the idea is to build a state-of-the-art science park in the heart of New York City (a 3.7-acre complex off the FDR Drive between East 28th and East 30th streets). At the meeting, presentations were made by Alexandria Real Estate Equities; a company responsible for the development bioscience clusters in San Francisco, Cambridge Seattle and San Diego.

The project is a partnership between Alexandria, New York City ($13.4 million were pledged by Major Bloomberg at the outset) and other private and federal sources.

In Alexandria’s own words:
New York City has it all: location, science, capital and talent. Not only is the NYC metro region a thriving epicenter of the world economy, but the intellectual and cultural capacity and resources are unparalleled on a global scale. Each diverse component that NYC has to offer helps to support the growth and limitless potential of a bioscience and technology industry cluster.

The long-term aims are not only to provide space for New York-based bioscience businesses, but the creation of ~2,000 jobs for researchers, technicians and other bioscience professionals.

The Science Park itself is being modeled to have the benefits of a campus feeling with on site amenities including shared support services, conference facilities, on-site building support, and a host of additional specialty services.

The plan is to open the first part of this site in 2010. Those curious how the construction is coming along can see it here

Further to the posts recently by Caryn on career planning and Ian on alternative paths, this provides perhaps something else for New York scientists to think about in the not too distant future.