CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A press conference to launch the CityCampus Biotechnology Center, co-hosted by the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VaBIO), will be held at 11am on Monday, March 28 at City Space on the Downtown Mall, Charlottesville. Representatives of the City of Charlottesville and the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VABIO) will attend and elected officials have been invited.
The former Coca-Cola Bottling Company building was built in 1939 and is a historic landmark on Preston Avenue, within 10 minutes walk of Downtown Charlottesville. The site occupies 1.8 acres and includes the former bottling company plant (12,000 sq ft), an Individually Protected Property in the City, as well as 25,000 sq ft of warehouse space. The Coca-Cola building is a classic example of industrial Art Deco design and form.
The City of Charlottesville has no available wet laboratory space for biotechnology and bioscience companies. The owners of Indoor Biotechnologies, Dr. Martin Chapman and Madeleine Watkins, have created CityCampus LLC to develop laboratory and research facilities for start up and early stage life sciences companies and to preserve the Coca-Cola building. The site will be developed as the CityCampus Biotechnology Center. Indoor Biotechnologies Inc. will be the lead tenant of the new center. Indoor Biotechnologies Inc is a world leader in products and services for environmental sciences, allergy and asthma with sales in over 50 countries.
CityCampus LLC will secure additional investors to finance re-development of the site. CityCampus Biotechnology Center will enhance economic development in the City by creating well paid green jobs that will support local service industries (legal, financial, marketing, catering) and community activities. When fully built out, the facility will create 100-150 jobs with no environmental impact.
Older Charlottesville residents remember the Coca-Cola Bottling facility as a place they could visit and literally watch Coca-Cola being bottled: the building was an icon for the community. Our vision for the new facility is to provide ‘biotech in a bottle’ and to create a state-of-the-art biotechnology research campus that will once again bring innovation and creativity to this historic building.
To RSVP for the press conference, contact Sherri Halloran: halloran.sherri@vabio.org. Space at the conference is limited to 50-60 people, so please respond ASAP and no later than Friday, March 25.
For further information about CityCampus Biotechnology Center contact:
Martin D. Chapman, PhD
President
Indoor Biotechnologies Inc (www.inbio.com)
Tel
434 984 2304
mdc@inbio.com
For Real-Estate enquiries and leasing space in the Coca-Cola building contact:
Cliff Fox, Broker
Kabbash, Fox and Gentry Commercial Real Estate
308
East Market Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Office Phone:
(434) 220-6070
Facsimile: (434) 220-2425
Email: foxfyre@cstone.net
About The Virginia Biotechnology Association – www.vabio.org
The Virginia Biotechnology Association, founded in 1992, is the statewide non-profit organization that promotes the scientific and economic impact of the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Nearly 300 biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies are based in Virginia, mainly clustered around universities in Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, Norfolk and Northern Virginia.