BRDG Park at the Danforth Plant Science Center
Announces Four Anchor Tenants

Scheduled to open in June 2009, Building I will feature state-of-the-art wet labs and office space designed to help fledgling plant and life sciences companies “bridge” research, resources and relationships to achieve commercial success.

“In a very tough real estate and economic marketplace, BRDG Park stands out for already leasing nearly 60 percent of our first building prior to opening,” said Sam Fiorello, President of BRDG Park. “It’s a great mix of enterprises and innovative partnerships that will provide the kind of scientific synergy that will help companies grow, building on the strong plant and life science base in St. Louis. ” Initial tenants include:

• Divergence, a world leader in developing products for the control of parasites in agriculture and medicine that graduated last year from the Nidus Center of Scientific Enterprise, a business incubator, has leased 11,000 sq. ft. The company’s research breakthroughs show strong promise of developing a safe, effective solution for farmers to combat parasites that reduce the yields of many crops. Divergence recently announced that it has raised $11.8 million in a Series C financing round, more than doubling the amount of equity capital raised by the growing company since its inception in 1999.
• St. Louis Community College, with 10,500 sq. ft., will help distinguish BRDG Park as one of the only research parks to have an on-site bio-tech workforce development and training program. The St. Louis Community College’s Center for Plant and Life Sciences bio-technician training program, which has been recognized for excellence by the Missouri Biotechnology Organization (MOBIO), will create unlimited and innovative opportunities for collaborations between academia and industry.
• Nidus, a prominent non-profit incubator for plant and life sciences companies, will lease 15,000 sq. ft. Founded more than 10 years ago and sponsored by Monsanto, Nidus has already been home to about 20 companies – mostly in life sciences – that have raised more than $150 million in investment. Because several graduate companies will move to their own separate leased facilities, Nidus is looking for new start-up companies to nurture and grow. At BRDG Park, Nidus will offer to such companies small footprint labs and offices, flexible lease terms and access to common equipment. In addition to providing young scientific enterprises access to the most technologically advanced research facilities at the Danforth Plant Science Center, Nidus provides a range of high value-added services that include business planning, management team development, access to financing opportunities, and other forms of advisory assistance in a collaborative environment.
• Monsanto, which has a long tradition of supporting entrepreneurship in plant and life sciences, including its sponsorship of the Nidus Center for Scientific Enterprise, will lease 28,100 sq. ft. The company’s on-site presence at BRDG Park and across the street from its world headquarters is expected to help BRDG Park attract scientific companies focused on achieving commercial success.
• Phycal LLC will lease 1,500 sq. ft. for an algae laboratory. Co-founded by Richard Sayre, Ph.D., director of the newly established Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Phycal LLC, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is developing and commercializing systems for growing algae and harvesting commercially viable energy products from the biomass: primarily algal oil (also called lipids) and methane gas. The lipids can be converted into biodiesel or refined into drop-in replacements for diesel, jet fuel, gasoline, and plastic feedstock.