The East Baltimore Development Inc. community will gain a prestigious new occupant - and about 250 jobs - when the state of Maryland builds a $180 million Public Health Laboratory there, officials said.
Maryland's Board of Public Works this week approved $6.45 million in state funds to begin designing a 200,000-square-foot laboratory building to house state employees who now work at 201 W. Preston St., part of the State Office Complex in Baltimore.
The building will be one of the next major projects to get under way on the East Baltimore property, an 88-acre tract north of the Johns Hopkins medical campus that is being developed as a $1.8 billion mixed-use community with housing, shops, offices, life science facilities, a school and a rail station.
The lab building will occupy about 2 acres and rise four to five stories. Work is expected to begin by the end of this year and be complete by late 2013. Planners say it will be an ideal addition to the community.
"It's a huge deal for us," said Christopher Shea, president and CEO of the seven-year-old EBDI. "It's a good example of the governor's 'smart site' strategy. It will put 250 employees on the street every day, looking to buy lunch, looking for a dry cleaner. It helps create a skill-rich environment that can lead to additional investment in the area.
The lab will be part of the Science + Technology Park at Hopkins, a research campus within the larger EBDI property. Two parcels are under consideration and a site will be selected shortly.
The lab, which replaces a 1974 facility that has been deemed antiquated and overcrowded, is being planned by three state agencies: the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of General Services and the Maryland Economic Development Corp., known as MEDCO.
Public officials say the lab is needed to help the state respond to public health threats such as newly emerging epidemics, food-borne outbreaks and bioterrorism. It will have 41 high-level biosafety laboratories, an infrastructure that can support sophisticated instruments and equipment and more security than the current facility.
According to state officials, development costs will be covered by bonds issued by MEDCO and backed by a lease with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Forest City-New East Baltimore Partnership, the master developer for the first phase of the EBDI community, will be the developer.
"The investment we are making today will provide Maryland families with decades of protection against disease and illness," said John M. Colmers, secretary of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.