The University of Maryland and Lockheed Martin Corp. last Friday announced a new partnership that would potentially help fill more research and office space at the M-Square research park. The Fortune 500 global security company and the university have ties that go back 60 years. Lockheed Martin has committed to spend $1 million dollars per year for three years with the possibility of continued support in the future.

The new agreement provides a strategic framework for current and future cooperation that leverages the resources, talent, and ideas of both institutions to produce innovative solutions for global and national security challenges. The agreement provides for work in three key areas: Centers of Collaboration, Joint Pursuit of Business Opportunities, and Enhanced Research and Development.

It is currently unknown if the partnership will require space at UMD’s M-Square research park. There are three additional buildings that have not broken ground yet. The key focus areas in the partnership would be a perfect fit at M-Square.

Officials say a key part of the new strategic relationship is the creation of Centers of Collaboration, which will support sustained cooperative work in mutually agreed-upon areas – initially logistics and sustainment, climate change, and cyber-security.

Current tenants at M-Square include the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity organization, Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Earth System Science and Interdiciplinary Center, and the American Center for Physics to name a few.

The Gazette is reporting on a new 5,000 square foot Food Safety lab to be in place in the Patapsco building by July of 2011. This is a  joint venture with the Waters Corp. and the University.  The Patapsco location is ideal for a lab such as this since it is directly next to the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition building.  Scientists will attend two-week training sessions at the new lab which will be called the International Food Safety Training Laboratory (IFSTL).

About 200 foreign scientists will be taught there annually by members of the Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, a collaborative program between the university and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The lab will have a staff of five full-time workers.

The $4 million investment from Waters will build and equip lab as well as help design the program. Waters is a manufacturer of food safety equipment and its investment is crucial to the success of the project.

“Exporting lab-based food safety expertise to other parts of the world will help protect the health of U.S. citizens, as well as people in other countries.  Moreover, bringing hundreds of trainees to Maryland helps support our regional economy.”

Brian Darmody, the associate vice president for research and economic development at the University of Maryland and president of the Association of University Research Parks.

This new Lab is part of a effort to cluster groups of scientific research together. The three areas of technology the clusters focus on are;

• Language and National Security
  • Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL)
  • National Foreign Language Center (NLFC)
  • Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA)
• Environmental and earth sciences, weather prediction, and global climate change
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) As of June 2010 this is still unfinished due to bankruptcy proceedings.
  • The University of Maryland/Pacific Northwest National Lab Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI)
  • Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC)
• Food Safety and security
  • United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
  • UM/FDA Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (JIFSAN)
  • UM Center for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture Policy (CFNAP)
  • Food and Drug Administration Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)

More details here

[flickr float="left" size="medium"]4119193301[/flickr]

East Campus? Stalled. Purple Line? Still Waiting. Maryland Football? Don’t ask. Here at RTCP we could use a little good news. Well we got some from Washington Business Journal. It looks like M-Square was selected as the top choice in Prince George’s for a new cluster of biotech startups. The proposal calls for two, five story buildings of 105,000 square-feet each right smack next to the metro station.

For years, Prince George’s County has been relegated to throwing farewell parties for its most promising biotech startups as they pack up and move to neighboring Montgomery County for more readily available lab space.

But now, Prince George’s planning consultants have pinpointed three locations for the county’s own biotech complex — what they envision as two to four new buildings filled with high-quality labs and highly paid workers to serve as a magnet for more biotech prospects and the heart of a growing biotech community within their own borders. County economic development leaders say they’re in active talks with at least one developer about bringing such a plan from paper to life.

In a newly issued report, county consultants have ranked publicly owned lots near M Square Research Park as the top recommendation for a biotech center, touting its across-the-street status from a University of Maryland research hot spot and the College Park Metro station.

Part of the draw is to give more established companies that get their start at the University location to expand.

Prince George’s boasts the state’s second-highest concentration of federal agencies and one of its largest research universities, but only about 2 percent of its bioscience companies and 5 percent of its available wet lab space. As a result, the report estimates, most biotech graduates of the University of Maryland’s Technology Advancement Program incubator opt for a permanent home somewhere else.

The College Park incubator’s three most celebrated alums — Digene Corp., Martek Biosciences Corp. and NovaScreen Biosciences Corp. — shifted to Montgomery, Howard and Anne Arundel counties, respectively, before growing into multimillion-dollar enterprises and, in two of the three cases, getting bought for prices that ranged from $22 million to $1.6 billion.

You might notice that one of the buildings is located where the existing tennis bubbles are. I particularly enjoy the following quote from the report on the subject.

Any relocation of the tennis structures would seriously impact the tennis playing community and would need to be agreed with M-NCPPC.

Really? You think? I think that qualifies for the “Duh!” award.

As our very own poster Albert Wavering summarized in his post How Entrepreneurship Can Help Rethink College Park [flickr size="small" float="right"]4032216143[/flickr]

Evidence shows that although many companies are started from the University of Maryland, many leave College Park as they become larger and more successful. As companies grow, they leave College Park for cities that are better able to support their company and provide more desirable benefits, such as safe housing and community centers. To compete with these other cities, College Park must provide suitable amenities for start-up companies.

Here is to hoping this report will help to move things forward although lets not lose sight of the real goal of M Square development. A place to eat! 94th Perk? New York Deli?

Read the full 175 page  Biotech-Study report.

On Friday July 17th the City hosted a Real Estate roundtable.  Ann Wylie, the Vice President of Administrative Affairs, was the primary presenter. There were many Campus and Local officials present and based on the lack of  empty seats interest was high.  The second speaker was Chris Warren providing details of local economic activity. Here are a few random highlights that I jotted down mainly from Mrs. Wylie’s talk. If you were there and have more to add please do jump in the comment section.

“We would like our Faculty and Staff to live in College Park”

This quote from Mrs. Wylie is music to my ears. She was very emphatic in the desire to encourage more more folks to Live and Work in College Park. This is personal to me becasue 10 years ago I took advantage of the “Live Near Your Work” program to move into CP. The developments proposed need to go forward to encourage more folks like me to put down long-term roots in the area.

East Campus will probably break ground in 18 months.

Of course the enonomy has hit the pause button on just about everything. However this project is moving forward and as soon as other financial hurdles are cleared the project will move ahead.

NOAA on hold.

As Chris already stated in the latest Economic Update the NOAA project has fallen victim to the economy. The primary developer Opus East is suing the General Services Administration and has also gone bankrupt in the process. This leaves the NOAA building 80% complete on the outside and 50% on the inside.  The GSA is working to complete the structure however we do not have a completion date.

National Proton Therapy Center

This new center will be located on River Road near the Physics Center. This type of therapy is used for cancer treatments and will be the only center of its kind within a 100-miles. This is a joint venture with the University Medical School.

Purple Line

Mrs. Wylie stated that they were still discussing the effect of magnetic and vibration issues with regards to the campus route for the purple line. And here I thought this subject was put to rest already.

94th Aero Squadron is Done.

Last but not least. I have heard that the 94th has broken their lease and will not be re-opening.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) spent a few days in May evaluating the TDOZ warehouse district for potential development. The area of interest is identified by that big red splotch on the image. Currently a large portion of that area is for sale and could be yours for the low price of $6.2 million. This is a greatly underutilized hunk of land in a prime location close to metro and M-Square. ULI is to provide planning and design guidance as well as a strategy for moving forward with the site. The ULI plan calls for

• 600 Residential units at various price points,
• 300,000 square feet of office space.
• 140-180 room Hotel covering 100,000 square feet.
• 40,000 square feet for Retail space.

They are placing special emphasis on making connections with the Aviation Museum and respecting FAA requirements. They have even suggested that the public space be named Aviation Plaza.

As a frequent user of this area I can attest for the need to have retail services within walking/biking distance near Metro and M-Square. The question remains as to how this project would fare with East Campus and M-square already moving forward.

The ULI implemenation strategy for the site is estimated to take 18 months and is outlined as follows.

• Phase I: Preliminary Review of Concept Plan
• Phase II: Land Assemblage
• Phase III: Create Public-Private Partnership
• Phase IV: Development Approval process
• Phase V: Request for Bid/Proposal
• Phase VI: Final approval
• Phase VII: Have lunch at the new location for New York Deli.
• Ok I made that one up but we seriously need a good place to eat around here.

Below you will find the three proposed development option. There is some question is the first two would even be possible because they would require the tennis facility (in red) to be moved. It is our understanding that the land for the tennis facility was purchased with the requirement that is remain park land. This and many other questions should be addressed when the ULI presents its full report to council on October 7th. In the mean time check out the TDOZ WareHouse Area power point presentation.