Building to be business incubator

New health care companies to commercialize discoveries at the Medical University of South Carolina — that's the goal of a plan to transform a vacant industrial building in the East Central neighborhood into research and laboratory space.

The plan put together by the South Carolina Research Authority and the city of Charleston is to provide low-cost space where researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina can form and attract start-up companies for the discoveries.

"We will invest somewhere between four and five million dollars," said John Gregg, SCRA's executive vice president of property and asset management.

"The expectation is that these companies will commercialize their solutions, go out from our facility, and hire people at higher wages than people often get in South Carolina," he said.

Charleston will provide the building, under a long-term lease to SCRA. The city acquired the building at no cost from the state Department of Transportation as part of the Ravenel Bridge construction project.

The Weil's Sleep Products mattress factory once occupied the building at 645 Meeting Street, near the on-ramp to Interstate 26. It is next door to the former SCE&G trolley barn, which is also now city-owned.

Michael Maher, director of Charleston's Civic Design Center said the trolley barn is not part of the initiative, and there are no specific plans for that building.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said the research facility will help the city meet a goal of attracting high-paying jobs in fields like biotechnology, while also taking advantage of medical university resources.

"There's a huge resource in the brilliant people who are working and doing research there (at MUSC)," the mayor said.

The city will continue to own the mattress factory building and will use a small portion of the space there for a police substation and community meeting room, Riley said.

The millions to be spent on renovating and outfitting the building as a business incubator will come from South Carolina Research Authority funds, not taxpayer dollars. The SCRA was created by the state, but now relies upon funds that its activities generate, Gregg said.

"Part of our mission is to support the three research universities (in South Carolina), and this is an opportunity to fulfill part of our obligation by creating an incubator in Charleston," Gregg said. "Our goal in this is to at least break even, or be a little bit cash positive."

The authority is working on similar projects elsewhere, with Clemson University and University of South Carolina.

Gregg said the Charleston facility will have room for 10 to 15 start-up companies at a time. Each company could stay a little more than a year.

"A key point is that a lot of these types of companies require wet labs, and we'll have at least eight," Gregg said. "Especially the biomedical companies, they need these clean, secure rooms with special equipment and ventilation systems."

MUSC President Dr. Ray Greenberg, a member of the SCRA board, said in a letter of support that the initiative will help attract more scientists and funding for health sciences research.

"This has the potential to open up opportunities for new generations to participate in the 21st Century economy," he said.

Charleston City Council will consider the agreement on July 15.

Reach David Slade at 937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com.