PHILADELPHIA – (September 12, 2014) – Wexford Science + Technology, a BioMed Realty (NYSE: BMR) company, and the University City Science Center today hosted the grand opening of the new 3737 Science Center life science building on the Science Center campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Developed jointly by Wexford and the Science Center, 3737 Science Center provides approximately 334,000 square feet of premier laboratory and office space at the epicenter of Philadelphia's renowned "eds and meds" community that is home to the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, as well as The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, University of the Sciences and The Wistar Institute.
The new building, the 16th on the Science Center campus and the second by the joint venture between the Science Center and Wexford, cements the Science Center’s reputation as a world-class innovation center and enhances Wexford’s presence in University City. Tenants of 3737 Science Center include Penn Medicine University City; Spark Therapeutics, a cutting-edge gene therapy start-up that spun out of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; Good Shepherd Penn Partners, which operates the Penn Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine; and The Rose Group, owner of the Corner Bakery Caféwhich is expected to begin service on the ground floor of 3737 Science Center at the end of 2014.
The building's atrium lobby features "Orders of Nature," a work by artist Soo Sunny Park that was funded by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority's Percent for Art Program. By affixing thousands of iridescent glass elements into stainless steel mesh, Park has created an undulating structure that transmits, reflects, and refracts natural and artificial light that fills the atrium with rainbow hued shadows and abstract color washes.
"This state-of-the art building is so much more than concrete and steel. 3737 Science Center is one more link in the chain that connects our region’s innovation ecosystem," said Science Center President & CEO Stephen S. Tang, Ph.D., MBA. "Together with Wexford Science + Technology, we have created a place for patients to get the treatment they need, and for scientists, researchers and physicians to conduct the groundbreaking work that will solve the problems of future patients for generations to come."
James R. Berens, President of Wexford Science + Technology, remarked, “We welcome our tenants, civic leaders and West Philadelphia neighbors to 3737 Science Center, which was conceived and developed on the strength of University City as the hub for the growing life science and innovation community in Philadelphia. Along with our adjacent 3711 Science Center building, this world-class life science research complex exemplifies the vitality of this region’s health care and research sectors, bolsters University City’s reputation as a foremost innovation center, and demonstrates the value of the partnerships formed between Wexford, the University City Science Center, and the local community to Philadelphia’s economy.”
Originally designed as an 11-story building, two additional floors were added to the structure during the construction phase in order to meet the growth requests for space in the building. The expanded 3737 Science Center building is now 82 percent leased to tenants which advance the Science Center's mission of supporting innovation and commercializing technology and are attracted to Wexford’s university-centric approach to development that enables tenants to collaborate closely with universities and provides the community with a positive, amenity-rich environment.
