UMR, YMCA seek public-private partnership to address future space needs
The University of Minnesota Rochester is joining forces with the Rochester Family YMCA on a request for proposals for its future campus build-out.
This week the two organizations announced they are looking for developers to come forward with ideas for a new project in downtown Rochester.
Graphic shows the location of the proposed expansion / via the RFP
Their goal is to find a private partner that can assist in the development of new student housing, along with academic and recreational space.
That development will likely happen on the south end of downtown, to the east of Soldiers Field, where UMR has been acquiring property in recent years using funds from Rochester’s half-cent local option sales tax (though UMR says it would also entertain proposals for other areas, such as the riverfront, which was the subject of recent city council discussion).
The deadline for proposals is December 18, with a stated goal of entering into negotiations with preferred respondent(s) by spring of 2020. UMR says it hopes to have construction completed on the project by May 2022.
You can review the full RFP here.
More momentum for Discovery Square
A pair of biomedical companies have announced plans to take on space in Destination Medical Center’s Discovery Square.
Connecticut-based BioSig Technologies announced this week that it will be opening an office on the second floor of the Conley-Maass-Downs building.
The firm says the office will serve as a hub for research and development to support current and future projects in collaboration with Mayo Clinic.
BioSig is a a medical technology company “developing a proprietary biomedical signal processing platform designed to improve signal fidelity and uncover the full range of ECG and intra-cardiac signals.”
Mayo Clinic, which has been working with BioSig for two years, recently invested $1 million into the company. The two organizations also have a 10-year strategic agreement to develop BioSig’s first product, its PURE EP, a computerized system designed to acquire, digitize, measure, display and store electrocardiographic and intracardiac signals for patients undergoing electrophysiology procedures. The company successfully conducted its first patient cases using the PURE EP system earlier this year.
Company CEO Kenneth L. Londoner said this week he plans to start with about a half dozen employees in Rochester, though he expects that number to grow — perhaps to as high as 50 to 100 — in the coming years.
As the firm continues to expand, Londoner said he is eyeing space in the proposed Two Discovery Square building.
That building will be located adjacent to One Discovery Square, where Rion LLC, a regenerative medicine startup with ties to Mayo Clinic, recently announced it would be moving to.
Created by researchers Dr. Atta Behfar and Dr. Andre Terzic, Rion focuses on “advancing regeneration through innovations related to its exosome biotherapeutic platform, development of novel off-the-shelf biologics technologies and biomanufacturing.”
“Rion’s primary focus has been the creation of accessible biotherapeutic platforms in the treatment of patients with few options,” Dr. Behfar said in a news release. “The expansion into the Discovery Square space demonstrates that the unique DMC ecosystem fosters healthcare innovation and biotech manufacturing in downtown Rochester.”
Rion joins a number of companies that have already moved into One Discovery Square, including WuXi Diagnostics and Boston Scientific.
Limb Lab adds Minneapolis office
Speaking of Rochester startups, this week the prosthetic maker Limb Lab opened its fourth office — and its first in the Twin Cities.
The 5,500-square-foot facility, located at 1206 Harmon Place in downtown Minneapolis, will be run by Yakov “Jacob” Gradinar, the company said.
Limb Lamb, a clinical practice providing custom prosthetics and orthotics, first opened in 2013 with locations in Mankato and Rochester. It has since added a facility across the Mississippi River, in La Crosse.
Last year, we had the chance to talk with Limb Lab co-founder Brandon Sampson, who explained the origins of the company:
I had a farm accident when I was an eight-year-old kid. My left hand got smashed between a skid loader and a cattle gate, and I spent a lot of time at Mayo Clinic having my hand reconstructed and put back together. I was so thankful that I was able to keep my fingers. They were just a little different.
But the experience started a couple of things in life: an interest in orthopedics and an interest in music — because during therapy, my surgeon told me to start playing guitar.
So I went to Luther College thinking orthopedics. And then about three years into that, my adviser said, ‘you know, you might really like prosthetics.’ He introduced me to that world, and I went and shadowed at a facility and fell in love with it. The thing I liked about it most was I still got to work with patients and help people, but I got to be creative and see the results of creating something out of nothing.
And at the end of the day, there was something that didn't exist before that was now helping somebody. And that is the driving force in what I do, from the time I wake up in the morning it’s about figuring out how to create something that hasn’t existed — whether it’s a good relationship with somebody, a song or a prosthetic limb.
You can learn more about Limb Lab by visiting their website.
Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.
