Biomedical Frontiers: SUMMER 1995, Vol.2, No.3
Reports from Audubon Construction begins on second Audubon facility

Conceptual drawing of the Center for Disease Prevention, a view from the south. Groundbreaking ceremony for CDP. From left to right are Dr. Herbert Pardes, Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean, Faculty of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons; Dr. George Rupp, President, Columbia University; Charles A. Gargano, Commissioner of New York State Office of Economic Development; and Congressman Charles B. Rangel.

Construction of the Center for Disease Prevention, the second building in the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park, began in June with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by elected and University officials. Scheduled completion for this seven-story building is August 1997. The new 170,000-square-foot facility will be the first academic facility constructed in the Audubon Research Park, a five-building complex located across the street from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

CDP will contain five floors of laboratory space for basic and clinical science that may provide the groundwork for the development of specific new medical diagnostics, technologies, and treatments. Research will focus on promising new areas, including the environmental causes of disease, infectious diseases, genetics, and immunology. The top floor will house an animal facility, and the ground floor will be devoted to retail shops and a conference room.

The project is funded by federal, state, and city grants, the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, and University sources.

The first building in the Audubon Research Park, the Audubon Business and Technology Center, is completed. This 100,000-square-foot commercial laboratory facility will provide laboratory space for new and existing companies engaged in biomedical research and development. It includes an incubator for start-up companies, which can lease space as small as 500 square feet.

"By placing an academic facility next door to commercial research and development laboratories, we expect to foster opportunities for collegiality and collaboration between academia and industry, and ultimately facilitate the movement of scientific advances in the laboratory to commercially viable medical treatments in the marketplace," says Mitch Gipson, executive director of the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park.

The firm of Davis, Brody & Associates is the architect for the first two buildings in the Audubon Research Park. The architectural firm William N. Bernstein and Associates has been selected to design space for incoming tenants in the commercial building. The New York-based firm has designed other facilities at Columbia as well as at other medical centers.