PSU may join building collaboration

A new, shared-use research building could soon join the Oregon Health and Science Building on the South Waterfront after funding was approved by the Oregon State Board of Higher Education and passed on to Governor Ted Kulongoski for inclusion in the 2009-11 budget.

The $250 million Life Sciences Building proposal was created in 2007 by the Oregon University System’s Portland Higher Education subcommittee, and the building could be ready for use by 2013. The state Legislature must approve the request during its fall session.

“This project really brings together a lot of the things that make Portland, Portland,” Jay Kenton said, vice chancellor for OUS. “This project is bringing together health and biosciences, biotechnology and green sustainability along with transit connections that make it all possible.”

The 300,000-square-foot building would be located on the Southwest corner of a 20-acre parcel that the Schnitzer family donated to Oregon Health and Science University in 2004. Since then the empty lot has been used mostly as a large parking lot.

Just north of OHSU’s recently completed building and tram to the main campus, the proposed site is on the streetcar route and multiple bus routes.

“The South Waterfront should have light rail service by 2013, and that along with the streetcar, tram and bus routes should make it to where the faculty can make it back and forth,” Kenton said.

In a collaboration between universities, private businesses and public interests, the building would house shared lab space, wet lab space, a good manufacturing practices facility, space for the Oregon Translational Research and Drug Discovery Institute, a human investigations and clinical trials facility, retail space, condominium space and instructional space.

“One of the key things to making this work is the extent to which the partners can share the space,” Marilyn Lanier, OHSU vice provost said.

Portland State figures to gain a sizable chunk of space in the new building.

“For Portland State, there would be about 10,000 square feet of dedicated research space, 5,000 square feet of dedicated instructional space and about 20,000 square feet of shared research and instructional space,” Marvin Kaiser, dean of the College Liberal Arts and Sciences at PSU, said.

The space is especially valuable for Portland State because its current facilities will not be able to meet the needs of students and faculty in the near future.

“Even after the current renovations to the science buildings, by 2013 we are forecasting a 35,000-square-foot shortfall in required space without the South Waterfront building,” Kaiser said.

Kenton said he hoped to see a cross-pollination of ideas between different universities.

“A faculty for PSU working on a bioscience project might bump into faculty from OHSU working on a different but similar biotech project, at the water cooler and be able to share and learn from each other,” Kenton said.

In addition to the benefits for Portland State, the proposed building would allow OHSU to expand its medical school class size from 120 students to 160, give more room to Oregon State University’s College of Pharmacy, as well as create new jobs in the bioscience and biotechnology industry for Portland.

“This is a chance for us to build a more collaborative model there and really create some high paying jobs,” Kenton said. “If you look at labor projections, there are a lot of deficits in the areas of biosciences and biotechnology.”

In order to fund the project, the proposal requests funding broken down into $125 million in state-sponsored bonds, $50 million in lottery bonds, $40 million from a private donation for medical expansion at OHSU, $20 million from TriMet for light-rail station site development and $15 million from other sources.

“This space is more than just an expansion,” Kenton said. “By bringing together research and instruction in the same space, there’s a greater chance for those kinds of magical ‘aha’ moments.”