After amending its original lease, Belgium-based Cardio3 BioSciences is now finally cleared to take over the entire fifth floor of Rochester's Minnesota BioBusiness Center.
In December, the Rochester City Council originally approved a five-year agreement with Cardio3 for the 14,963-square-feet of space to use as a prototype manufacturing facility. However, the company then asked for "an early termination provision" in the lease.
The deal is being driven by the city, Rochester Area Economic Development Inc., Mayo Clinic and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development to make Rochester more attractive to the Cardio3 in hopes that the company will build a major manufacturing plant here.
This is the second phase of deal funded by $1.2 million from the city of Rochester's economic development sales tax fund. The first phase was developing little more than 5,000 square feet of unused space on the third floor of the BioBusiness Center to build a special manufacturing lab for Cardio3.
Mayo Clinic and Cardio3 have collaborated for years on the cardiopoiesis technology the company uses to repair patients' hearts by re-programming their own stem cells to regenerate cardiac tissue. Mayo Clinic owned 2.96 percent of the company as of Jan. 21. It's also managing a clinical trial for Cardio3.
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On Wednesday, city council members voted to add an early termination provision to the deal that allows Cardio3 to end the five-year lease after just two years in the space. That provision kicks in only if Cardio3 decides to "construct or lease a larger production facility in Rochester" or the clinical trial on its regenerative heart treatment is not successful.
To leave early, Cardio3 will need to notify the city six months ahead of time. Under the modified lease, the earliest that the regenerative medicine firm could pull out is April 30, 2017. Cardio3 would need to pay the city $269,334 if it did leave earlier than five years. That amount equals about one year of base rent.
If Cardio3 does leave before its lease is up, all of the city-funded fixed equipment and improvements will become the city of Rochester's property. The city agreed in the lease to pay for $600,000 in equipment and improvements to the space.
The final version of the lease calls for Cardio3 to pay a rent of $18 per square foot or $22,444.50 a month.
Mayo Clinic, which leases the fourth through eighth floors of the BioBusiness Center, moved its employees out of the fifth floor earlier this year. At one point, Mayo Clinic Global Products' corporate accounts had offices on the fifth floor.
In earlier discussions about this project, RAEDI estimated that Cardio3 will need 30 to 50 employees to staff the proposed prototype manufacturing facility on the fifth floor.
The ultimate goal of this project is to convince Cardio3 to build a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility with 350 employees in Rochester. That's what Cardio3 anticipates it will need if the Federal Drug Administration gives it a green light to take its stem cell treatment to market. RAEDI President Gary Smith calls it "the big enchilada."
