Pfizer donates $50M lab to MSU
BYLINE: Jeremy W. Steele Contact Jeremy W. Steele at 377-1015 or jwsteele@lsj.com. Grand Rapids TV station WZZM contributed to this report.
Lansing State Journal
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. has handed Michigan State University a $50 million laboratory in Holland to use as a new bioeconomy research hub.
The move Wednesday expands the university's reach in Michigan, where it already does agriculture research at 14 locations off campus, and is adding medical school campuses in Grand Rapids and metro Detroit.
Plans call for the donated three-story, 138,000-square-foot Pfizer building to house about 100 researchers who would develop alternative fuels, chemicals and structural materials from plant-based sources.
Those researchers - from chemists to engineers to microbiologists - would build off work already being done at MSU's East Lansing campus. They also would partner with businesses and pursue their own projects.
"All of Michigan faces challenges and opportunities in the bioeconomy," said Ian Gray, MSU's vice president for research and graduate studies. "Whether the efforts are in Wayne County, Webberville, Gaylord, Frankenmuth, Marysville, etc., MSU will be there."
{}Money for operations
But the road from donation to operation will take some work.
The university still must raise money for the facility's operations, likely through a combination of local donors, business contracts and state and federal grants. The deal also requires the approval of the MSU Board of Trustees.
It's possible MSU could tap into a $12 million pool created Tuesday by the Michigan Strategic Fund board to retain Pfizer talent and reuse buildings the New York-based company is vacating. The state will dole out grants from that fund later this year to regional groups.
{}Could open in January
Officials declined to say how much it will cost to run the facility. But its 12 to 15 research teams likely would each work on federal or corporate grants of $250,000 to $750,000 a year, said Paul Hunt, associate vice president for research and a key MSU negotiator in the deal.
Hunt said the university could open the facility in January, although it likely would take two years to fully ramp up operations.
The building includes laboratory space and a small-scale manufacturing facility Pfizer used to launch new medications.
In that respect, it's similar to MBI International, a 65,000-square-foot nonprofit business incubator with labs and production facilities next to MSU's campus.
{}Similar goals
MBI, which is controlled by MSU, is filled by small startups ranging from a fledgling pharmaceutical company to a firm that makes starch-based adhesives.
The Holland facility, however, should not be viewed as competition to MBI or similar efforts locally, said Matt Dugener, president and chief executive officer of the new Lansing Economic Area Partnership Inc.
"If we're smart about it, we'll find ways that we can leverage it as an opportunity," Dugener said.
"MSU is a major employer and institution here in mid-Michigan. If they're stronger, then we're stronger."
Strategically, the Holland facility gives MSU an instant boost to compete with similar efforts throughout the Midwest. It would cost millions during tough budget times and take years to plan and build similar space from scratch.
"We have a huge advantage. We have a building in the air and they do not have a shovel in the ground," Lakeshore Advantage President Randy Thelen said, referring to out-of-state efforts.
For Pfizer, which mothballed the research and development center in 2003, it also could help create a market to sell the rest of its 46-acre Holland manufacturing campus, which it acquired when it bought Parke-Davis.
Cholesterol drug Lipitor was among the drugs Pfizer manufactured there.
The company is considering a similar model for facilities in Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor that it announced in January it was closing, spokesman Rick Chamber said.
Pfizer is cutting about 2,500 Michigan-based jobs as part of a worldwide restructuring.
"We want to do what we can to continue to support innovation and education and the community," Chambers said.
Contact Jeremy W. Steele at 377-1015 or jwsteele@lsj.com. Grand Rapids TV station WZZM contributed to this report.
{}Proposal
* The plan: Transform Pfizer's 138,000-square-foot Holland laboratory into a bioeconomy research facility.
* The cost: Pfizer is donating the $50 million building. MSU is seeking funding from local donors, business contracts and state and federal grants.
* Local impact: The facility would build off research done at MSU. It also could help get technologies developed in East Lansing into production.
* Why Holland? University lab space is full and Pfizer is giving MSU a building that would cost tens of millions of dollars to build.
* What's next? MSU must secure funding to operate the facility and its Board of Trustees must approve the deal.
Sources: Michigan State University and LSJ research
{}MSU's reach
Wednesday's announcement that Michigan State University plans to open a bioeconomy research facility in Holland expands the East Lansing institution's reach in Michigan. Among its main holdings:
* East Lansing campus: MSU educates some 45,000 students from its main campus, which also serves as the hub of its research activities.
* MSU Extension: Every county in Michigan has access to Extension programs, which range from gardening help to financial education classes to agricultural research.
* Agriculture Experiment Station: MSU does agriculture research in 14 locations outside East Lansing.
* Business school: The Eli Broad College of Business runs its Management Education Center in Troy.
* Medical schools: The College of Human Medicine, MSU's MD school, is adding a Grand Rapids campus. The College of Osteopathic Medicine, its DO school, is finalizing plans for a satellite campus in metro Detroit.
News conference online
* To view the entire news conference, check this story on www.lsj.com.