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A biotech firm with deep Mayo Clinicties is taking over the lease of street level office space in the city-owed Minnesota BioBusiness Centerin downtown Rochester.
A lease for 1,730 square feet of space for Rion LLC , created by Mayo Clinic's Dr. Atta Behfar and Dr. Andre Terzic , was approved by the Rochester City Councilon Monday night.
Theadditional space will be used for research and development as well as expanding Rion's lab, according to Behfar.
Rion will pay $20 per square foot for the space in the one-year lease. Rion's lease has ongoing six-month options with 3% annual increases.
That space opened up when Imanis Life Sciences moved to the Rochester Technology Campus , the former IBMcampus. Imanis leased the space at 221 First Ave. SW from the city from 2013 to February 2019. It paid $15.50 per square foot for the first two years and the cost eventually increased to $18.50 per foot.
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Rion has been leasing a 2,090-square-foot space on the skyway level of the Minnesota Biobusiness Center, since 2017. It pays $25 per foot for those offices.
City documents describe Rion as "a Minnesota bio-tech company focused on the delivery of cutting-edge regenerative technologies to patients at low cost and in off-the-shelf fashion. Building on initial research at Mayo Clinic, Rion LLC aims to develop and bring to practice products in the space of wound-healing, orthopedics and cardiac disease."
Biz buzz
It looks like a new liquor store is targeting the Med City.
On Monday, the Rochester City Council approved the transfer of a liquor license from Barrel House Spirits to Target Corp.
Barrel House Spirits, which was located in the former CHS/Cenexstation at 545 16th Ave. NW, closed at the end of May. It was the creation of Chris Fierst and Steve Lee.
City documents show that Target plans to build a separate-entrance liquor shop next to its north Rochester store at 3827 Marketplace Dr. NW.
Target , which has 19 such shops in Minnesota, estimates the new Rochester liquor store will open next summer.
