The Missouri Development Finance Board recently approved a plan that will give investors up to $12 million in tax credits over the next five years to encourage development of buildings suitable for biotechnology companies.

This tax-credit plan, accepted in late October, will allow an area to be built to house CORTEX, the Center of Research, Technology and Entrepreneurial Expertise.

CORTEX will provide a niche for the biotechnology industry, which Washington University and other St. Louis biotech supporters are hoping will eventually become synonymous with the city.

“What St. Louis would like to do is become one of the major technology centers between the coasts,” said Michael Douglas, director of the Office of Technology Management at the University.

Douglas’ office does its part in this community effort by helping University scientists protect discoveries that can become the basis for new companies. The hope is that the CORTEX development will keep these technology-based companies in St. Louis, leading to an economic revitalization.

Efforts toward realizing this goal reach far beyond the University walls.

St. Louis University, the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, the city of St. Louis, the state of Missouri and foundations like the McDonnell and Danforth Foundations have come together in support of this initiative.

Douglas stressed that CORTEX is just one step in the long collaborative process towards invigorating the city’s economy through technology development.

“[CORTEX] really represents a very broad based community initiative that provides the facilities for the economic development of a region that needs help,” said Douglas.

The development area is located in midtown St. Louis, bordered by St. Louis University to the east, the Missouri Botanical Gardens to the south and Washington University Medical School and Barnes-Jewish Hospital to the west.

Not all the buildings will be new. Douglas said renovation and rehabilitation is being encouraged with “some priority given to trying to maintain the look and feel of the area.”

Marcia Mellitz is president of the Center for Emerging Technologies here at the University and serves on the board for CORTEX. She said the tax credits were necessary to persuade area contractors to construct technology facilities, which are often intimidating to build.

Additionally, she said the location of CORTEX around the two medical schools will allow a mutually beneficial relationship between the schools and surrounding companies.

“The collaboration between the University faculty and the companies is what drives the new technology development that we’re seeing,” said Mellitz.

Although no property has been purchased, Mellitz hopes to see the first building within two years, with substantial construction commencing within five years.

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