Premier Robert Ghiz today announced his government’s plans for the protection and development of the Upton Farm Property.
Located on the North River in Charlottetown, the Upton Farm Property covers approximately 275 acres. More than half of the Property will be designated as green space, resulting in a protected area more than three times the size of Victoria Park in Charlottetown.
The Province is moving forward with the construction of the Prince Edward Island BioCommons, a key component in the Government of Prince Edward Island’s economic and innovation strategy, Island Prosperity: A Focus For Change. The BioCommons will be constructed on 65 acres of land located across from the West Royalty Business Park, and will consist of bioscience research and development, manufacturing and support service facilities.
Fifteen acres on the south side of the Trans Canada Highway has been identified as the future site of a new provincial long-term care facility. Government is currently in the planning stages for this new facility, which will replace the existing Prince Edward Home. Funding for this new construction was allocated in the Province’s 5-year Capital Budget, announced in November, 2008.
Approximately 150 acres of the property will be reserved as green space. A Public Trust will be established by government to oversee the stewardship of the property. The Trust will be administered by equal representatives from the Government of Prince Edward Island and the Upton Farm Preservation Network.
Premier Ghiz said the Province has worked closely with industry and community groups to ensure the development of the Upton Farm Property both encourages economic growth and retains a significant amount of green space for use by generations to come.
“I am pleased that all interested parties were able to reach an agreement regarding the future use of this Property, one which will provide benefits to all Islanders in terms of both economic development and park land preservation,” said Premier Ghiz.
“The Prince Edward Island BioCommons will become a key piece of infrastructure that will help attract leading bioscience companies to the province,” said Premier Ghiz. “Bioscience companies require specific infrastructure in order to compete on the world stage and this new facility will put our province on the world bioscience map.”
The Prince Edward Island bioscience industry has grown to employ more than 800 people at 27 private-sector companies and seven research and academic organizations. Initial site servicing work is expected to begin in late fall 2009 with construction scheduled to begin in Spring 2010. The BioCommons is expected to officially open in the fall of 2011.
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement as a result of the multi-stakeholder consultation process that commenced in April of 2008 and was facilitated by the Canadian Urban Institute,” said Mark Laroche, President and CEO of Canada Lands Company. “This is a win-win commercial transaction which enables us to fulfill our mandate, and in so doing address important initiatives of the Province and community stakeholders represented by the Upton Farm Preservation Network.”
For more information, visit www.IslandProsperity.com.
BACKGROUNDER
PEI BioCommons Research Park
Key Details:
• The BioCommons will be built on 65 acres of land located on Upton Farm Property across from the West Royalty Business Park. The BioCommons will consist of bioscience research and development, manufacturing and support service facilities.
• The heart of the BioCommons will be a state-of-the-art biotechnology incubator that will house and help companies commercialize their products. As noted in the Island Prosperity Strategy, a key mandate of the BioCommons is to connect our primary sectors to the modern tools of biotechnology so that PEI can further benefit from our primary resources.
At approximately 60,000 square feet in size it will include:
- Incubation spaces (approximately 8 - 10 spaces) – to provide flexible wet lab and office space for early stage companies.
- Anchor tenant space – a combination of office space and a core lab to provide services to companies (in discussion with proposed anchor, but premature to discuss further at this time).
- Commercialization Services – office space for key commercialization support services to companies in areas such as market assessment, regulatory affairs, process development, intellectual property protection, etc.
- Scale Up Labs – designated lab space and equipment to accelerate scale up activities and help bring products to market faster.
- Commons Areas – cafeteria, boardroom meeting spaces, washrooms, utility area, refrigeration space, and shipping/receiving, etc.
• The budget for land acquisition, site servicing, construction and start-up operations of the BioCommons is estimated to be $30 million.
• Industry is heavily involved in the planning and business plan stages for the BioCommons via a working group comprised primarily of board members from the PEI BioAlliance and industry.
• The proposed governance model for the BioCommons is for an industry-led board structure to bring a wealth of experienced bioscience sector expertise in overseeing the management of the BioCommons.
• The BioCommons will receive transitional funding to cover early stage costs and become self sufficient by year five.
• BioCommons site servicing work is expected to begin in late fall 2009, construction of the biotechnology incubator is expected to begin in Spring 2010, with the BioCommons officially opening in the fall of 2011.
• By its fifth year, the BioCommons is expected to be home to 500 employees, with an annual payroll exceeding $25,000,000 and generate sales (almost entirely export related) of $90,000,000 per year.