June 16, 2021

A building that would house multiple biotech companies is envisioned as a catalyst to draw more activity to the USD Discovery District.

The proposed 50,000-square-foot building would be designed for bioscience companies coming out of university settings or other locations and looking to scale up.

“It’s really time to create that competitive shell space that is flexible enough we can build it out for those clients and they can walk into the building and take a look at what we’re going to have,” Sioux Falls Development Foundation CEO Bob Mundt told the City Council on Tuesday.

The council has discussed potential funding for the building using COVID relief funds, but no proposal has been brought forward.

Currently, the GEAR Center adjacent to the future Discovery District is essentially full, Mundt said. So biotech companies often are referred to space at Avera and Sanford.

“Both those organizations are growing, their research departments are growing, and they’re starting to fill up their own space,” he said.

The multitenant Discovery District building is envisioned as the first of what could be multiple buildings at the campus.

Prospects that have reached out about potential space include a range of pharmaceutical developers and providers, and other industry-related developers and service providers.

They represent areas ranging from Austin, Texas, to San Diego, Philadelphia and Seattle for a current total of 140 potential jobs.

“They’re coming from some of the hot spots for biosciences,” Mundt said. “It’s getting so expensive to operate … that they’re looking for new, creative, energetic space.”

He estimates up to 250 jobs can be created at the site, with an average salary of $68,000.

“It helps to catalyze the rest of the research park,” he said.