California cities woo stem cell HQ

[davidinalameda]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Stem%20Cell%20Headquarters

Several California cities plan to offer incentives ranging from free rent to discounts on nearby hotel rooms in a bid to lure the state's new stem cell research headquarters.

San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego and other cities are jockeying for the headquarters of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, which plans to build a 15,000-square-foot office with a maximum 50 employees.

The institute was created in November after voters overwhelmingly approved a measure allowing California to borrow $3 billion to fund human embryonic stem cell research over 10 years.


why build? there are so many empty office buildings between San Francisco and San Jose already--and that's the perfect place for the headquarters

[slutticus]

1. I read somewhere that SF and SD are the major contenders.

According to insiders, SF has a slight lead because of the heavy biotech presence in the SF area. (SD has a good presence too, but SF has big names like Genentech)

If SF is chosen, the likely place would be in or around South San Francisco, where all the biotech companies are located.

I'll try to find where I read this.