Mayo Clinic unveiled plans to build more than 2 million square feet of research, commercial and product development space in Rochester. The project would more than double the health organization’s current research footprint in the city, which is said to be 1.3 million square feet.
 
Once completed, Mayo touts it will have a “first-of-its-kind urban bioresearch campus.” The new facilities will bring together physicians, researchers, scientists and entrepreneurs to develop products and care services in a variety of specialties, including biotechnology and regenerative medicine.
 
With plans to break ground next year, Mayo’s announcement is the latest in a series of expansion moves within the city. The effort, dubbed the Destination Medical Center (DMC), involves a 20-year, $6 billion spending plan to transform Rochester into America’s health care capital. The additional money from private investments and $585 million in taxpayer support make DMC the largest public-private partnership in state history.
 
“Mayo Clinic’s decision…to invest in new bioscience innovation, will encourage additional national and international investment in Rochester,” said Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, who serves as board chair of the DMC project. “It will spur job creation and diversify the economy in Rochester and southeastern Minnesota.”
 
The urban bioresearch campus will fall within Discovery Square, which is a six-square-block sub-district nestled near Mayo’s current headquarters. The DMC Development Plan includes five other sub-districts of densely organized, mixed-use neighborhoods with life science businesses, new startups and residential spaces.
 
Smith noted the announcement of the Discovery Square development was “exactly the kind of transformational project we created the DMC to accomplish.”
 
Last year, Mayo had a research budget of $662 million. That funding led to the start of more than 2,700 human studies and research findings published in about 7,300 peer-reviewed journals.
 
With the completion of the urban bioresearch campus, Mayo Clinic CEO John Noseworthy believes the organization’s prevalence and innovative prowess will expand even more.
 
“We’re looking forward to welcoming businesses, medical innovators and researchers from around the world to Discovery Square,” Noseworthy said in prepared remarks. “There is no better way to stimulate innovation than through collaboration, which has been part of the Mayo culture for over 150 years.”