Incubator at New York Medical College is where the boom of biotech companies started
Robert Amler, M.D., the Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College in Valhalla, talks about the incubator.
Mark Vergari, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
Westchester County’s life science industry has been growing for decades, thanks to the county’s proximity to New York City, its assets in health care, access to a varied workforce and more.
But future growth is far from guaranteed.
Surrounding state and regional economic-development authorities are also competing fiercely to attract life science companies, and some offer better incentives.
So Westchester has made it a priority to figure out how to continue attracting biotech firms of all types and sizes. The county is developing a strategy to stay as competitive as possible.
With over 205 biotech firms that employ 8,000 people, Westchester is home to the largest life sciences cluster in the state. Yet, officials know they need more lab space and more trained lab workers, two priorities moving forward.
County officials expect that a recently launched study will identify what it will take, like lab space and economic incentives, so that biotech firms can grow and thrive.
Bridget Gibbons, director of Westchester County economic development, said the county plans a robust campaign to close any gaps that are identified by the study.
“This study will tell us what we should do to really grow the sector,” she said. “Then we’re going to implement those recommendations.”
How NY’s largest biotech cluster evolved in Westchester
Westchester’s life sciences ecosystem is supported by a diverse cluster of incubators, startups, accelerators that help young companies grow, giant biotech companies, hospitals and research institutions.
Dr. Robert Amler, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College in Valhalla, said the boom of biotech companies started a decade ago after a biotech incubator, BioInc, was launched on campus.
Amler said the incubator was the heart of a project, supported by $500 million in federal funds, aimed at creating advanced manufacturing facilities in the Lower Hudson Valley, including for biotech. The project drew dozens of startups and entrepreneurs to Westchester and generated some of the most innovative ideas in biotechnology, from new drug candidates and vaccines to new medical apps and devices.
With over 10,000 square feet of lab space, the incubator continues to provide affordable lab space and equipment for startups and entrepreneurs, and opportunities to collaborate with faculty, clinicians and scientists at the school.
BioInc conducts financial and science reviews on applicants interested in joining.
“The goal is to give startups’ ideas, creativity, innovation a chance to gain that footing so they can grow to the point of being picked up by larger companies, expanding to bigger space,” Amler said. “Or maybe a particular idea is a good idea but it doesn’t work, that’s OK. They can move on.”
Larry Gottlieb, a former Westchester County director of economic development, said the county began to shift its economic priorities in 2010 when traditional industries faced an economic downtown but biotech companies like Regeneron still saw rapid growth.
With the support of $500 million in federal funds aimed at creating advanced manufacturing facilities in the Lower Hudson Valley, including for biotech, dozens of startups and entrepreneurs were attracted to Westchester.
Many companies started by occupying a “bench” in the incubator, or up to a 1,000-square-foot space, before moving to a larger laboratory. But lab space is at a premium in Westchester, so most biotech companies have to repurpose other companies’ former spaces.
One major need: more lab space
The heart of Westchester’s biotech ecosystem remains in mid-county, where giant Regeneron, the biotechnology incubator at New York Medical College, and Westchester Medical Center are located. White Plains has the most biotech companies (36), followed by Valhalla (17), Tarrytown (16) and Hawthorne (10), according to county records.
As the county intensifies its pursuit of biotech companies, more laboratory space will be needed.
Gibbons said the county faces a shortage of larger laboratory space because it is more expensive for developers to build, and riskier, than regular offices.
“Developers are concerned they would have to build the lab space on spec, which means they would build it and then get tenants,” Gibbons said. “It is perceived as not attractive and maybe a little risky. So no one has really taken the initiative to build lab space.”
Gottlieb, now managing director of Robert Martin Company, specializing in real estate for life sciences and health technologies, said a boom in lab complexes is unlikely to happen in Westchester. Most biotech companies will continue to reuse existing labs as they expand, he said.
“In Westchester these companies in a way slip into the background because it’s economical for them and the area lends itself to that,” Gottlieb said. “You have a growing ecosystem of companies, but these companies are spread out within a zone of innovation going on in different places.”
Two massive projects, Regeneron’s $1.8 billion expansion in Greenburgh and the long-anticipated North 80 biotech hub in Valhalla within the town of Mount Pleasant, are expected to add about 350,000 square feet of lab space.
The county hopes its new study will pin down how much lab space the county now has and how much more is needed.
Westchester considers financial incentives, training
Life science companies rely on various sources of financing, including private venture capital, and grant and tax incentives from governments.
Gibbons said Westchester County does not offer adequate financial incentives for life science companies compared to other state and regional governments outside of New York. Existing county incentives include sales tax exemptions and tax-exempt bonds, but they mainly benefits construction projects, not the work that biotech companies seek to do.
Mix-use development: North 80, Westchester’s long-awaited biotech hub, may soon rise in Valhalla
“The money cannot be used to make investment to startup companies to help them have working capital to fund their research,” Gibbons said.
Deborah Novick, co-chair of the county’s life science industry task force, said the county is figuring out approaches to offer incentives to biotech companies and real estate developers. The new study should address these points.
“Life science companies take a long time to get revenue and certainly to profitability,” Novick said. “So they need access to a lot of capital. The right incentives would make it easy for people to build their businesses and stay here.”
Westchester’s 8,000 biotech employees represent about 20% of the state’s total life sciences workforce. The Regeneron and North 80 projects are expected to more than double Westchester’s biotech workforce by bringing in an additional 9,500 jobs.
Gibbons said the county is also looking to provide more training programs for local people interested in finding a job in the life sciences sector. One option is to offer entry-level certificate programs that require less time than an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
“Focusing on workforce development is kind of a no-brainer,” Gibbons said. “We’re looking forward to building out training programs to support people at all levels of education.”
Biotech success expected to attract others
Nurturing the biotech industry requires patience because research is unpredictable and it takes time for research to produce revenue.
But institutions like Regeneron and New York Medical College that produce world-class research and products show the way to startups and smaller companies, officials say.
“Biotech has a unique ability to change the fate of many many people,” said Amler. “More people will realize this will be a gold mine for professionals and would-be startups in Westchester.”
Gottlieb said that for Westchester to remain competitive on the life science front, the county must attract more world-class academic institutions. Providing new incentives to developers and biotech companies is key, he said.
“Westchester County historically can slip, but it doesn’t fall,” Gottlieb said. “There’s always money circulating around that can be accessed one way or another. Even if Regeneron was to stumble, the reality is you would probably have those individuals from their workforce that would form their own companies. So I only see really ultimately positive, positive, positive, win, win, wins.”
Helu Wang covers development and real estate for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach her at [email protected].
This content was originally published here.
