News Room
Mayo Clinic throws its support behind Elk Run
By Jeffrey Pieters - [excerpt from Post-Bulletin, Rochester, MN]
April 28, 2009
The Elk Run biobusiness park has a big new backer.
Mayo Clinic CEO Dr. Denis Cortese on Tuesday threw Mayo’s support behind the 2,300-acre project planned in Pine Island.
“We’re just supporting it in any way we can, because we see a real benefit down the road,” he said.
Cortese made his remarks at the city-county Government Center, seated with a group of proponents of Elk Run.
Elk Run would serve as, among other things, an incubator for startup biotechnology businesses.
[…]
The business environment, as bad as it appears nationally, is favorable for a Midwestern project like Elk Run, planners said.
“There’s such a concentration on the cost of doing business nowadays,” said John Pierce, vice president of Tower Investments, the California-based company developing Elk Run.
“We’ve gotten a lot of interest (from biobusinesses), because, frankly, we may be a lot more competitive from a cost standpoint,” he said.