News Room
Biotechnology Center at Elk Run Announces Strategic Advisory Board
By Press Release
June 5, 2008
Biotechnology Center at
Strategic Advisory Board
Biotech Industry, Academic Leaders Will Guide Development of Nonprofit Center, Promote Biotechnology and Economic Development in Minnesota
Pine Island, Minn. - (June 5, 2008) - Tower Investments, LLC today announced members of the Biotechnology Center at Elk Run (BCER) inaugural strategic advisory board. The board is comprised of leaders from the biotechnology industry as well as academic and business leaders from the Rochester, Minn., region.
Located 15 minutes north of Rochester, BCER is a nonprofit organization committed to the development of biotechnology industries, technologies and services to support the economic progress of the state and the region. Researchers and developers at BCER will usher products from pre-clinical safety studies through commercialization.
The 2008-2009 BCER strategic advisory board includes:
Charles C. Muscoplat, Ph.D., vice president for statewide strategic resource development, University of MinnesotaLarry Pease, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic Rochester
Dave Melin, vice president, corporate and government affairs, MGI Pharma Inc.
Ian Troup, chairman, VitalMedix
Leonard Ruiz, Ph.D., president, International Medica Foundation
Dale A. Wahlstrom, CEO, The BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota
"Bringing together such an esteemed group of professionals as the BCER strategic advisory board is especially important to Tower Investments," said Alex Marks, senior vice president of Tower Investments, LLC, the owner/developer of Elk Run. "With leaders like these guiding the organization through its earliest stages of development, we are confident that the board and Elk Run itself, will quickly realize its vision of advancing important biotech research and encouraging sustainable economic development locally and for the state of Minnesota."
BCER, slated to break ground this, is the first step of Phase I development for the 2,325-acre Elk Run master planned community. The mixed-use development will include residences as well as commercial, medical and bioscience facilities. The City of Pine Island annexed 1,282 acres of the Elk Run property in April 2008.
"The Biotechnology Center at Elk Run will encourage invaluable collaboration among the best in the biotechnology field," said Marks. "We are thrilled to be a part of establishing a home for this forum in southeast Minnesota, and believe it signals great promise for continued economic development and smart growth in the region."
To learn more about the Biotechnology Center at Elk Run, visit www.elkrun.info/biotech. More information about the Elk Run master planned development is available at https://www.watchesthatfit.co.uk.
About Tower Investments
Formed in 1989, Tower Investments, LLC, is a private, family-owned real estate investment and development company with more than 100 real estate projects in 17 states. Tower invests its own capital in residential, commercial, retail, industrial and agricultural real estate. Visit www.towerinvestments.com to learn more.