Interest, but no signed tenants yet at Discovery Square complex

January 16, 2018 at 4:55 PM

Construction of one of early Destination Medical Center projects — the first Mortenson Co. building - is rolling along.

However, Mayo Clinic is the only confirmed tenant leasing space at this point in the complex being built in the DMC Discovery Squaresubdistrict in downtown Rochester.

The 89,000-square-foot complex is being built at the corner of Fourth Street Southwest and Second Avenue Southwest.

I recently checked in with Mortenson and the DMC Economic Development Agency staff about how the marketing of the building is going.

Colliers International, of Canada, is the leasing agent and is overseeing tenant recruitment, in partnership with Mortenson and Rochester's DMC EDA, led by Lisa Clarke.

Here's some of the response I received from Mortenson's Jeremy Jacobs:

"First, Discovery Square has benefitted from tremendous interest from local, regional, national and international companies. We’ve had conversations with prospects from Wisconsin to Chicago, Germany to China. We are excited about how our tenant mix is taking shape, with conversations at various stages of engagement. We anticipate that we will be able to begin announcing tenants over the course of the next couple of Quarters."

I wonder if the Wisconsin prospects include Exact Sciencesand/or Epic Systems? I also wonder if local Mayo Clinic-linked businesses, like Resoundantor Ambient Clinical Analytics, might sign up for some space. Of course, those businesses already have local offices, so that wouldn't signal any local growth.

I also asked if a name has been chosen for the future building yet. I'm personally calling it the "Nucleus Complex."

Here's Jacobs response to the question about the name:

"Second, our plan is to announce the name of the Phase 1 building of Discovery Square shortly, likely in the next few months. Brand identification for this building is a vital component of the project and we have engaged some leading industry professionals to help us create an exciting identity for the building. We’ve not adopted an interim name so as to eliminate the potential for future confusion in the market. This has been a very deliberate process as we know how important it is to get it right."

I wonder if a large tenant, like Merckor Boston Scientific, signs for space, could they end up having a name on the building?

The building is anticipated to be the nucleus for a series of commercial science buildings targeted for a six-core-block area within the 16-block Discovery Square subdistrict. Mortenson's financial return on this first building could impact its interest in constructing more buildings.