Background

In 2005, Pfizer announced plans to close its 46-acre pharmaceutical campus in Holland, Michigan. Lakeshore Advantage, the region’s economic development organization, collaborated with Pfizer to explore the possibility of repurposing the site.

In early 2007, attention was focused on the potential donation of one component of Pfizer’s Holland campus: a 138,000-square-foot, research and development facility and pilot plant.

In late 2007, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees approved a resolution that authorized the university to complete the legal steps necessary to accept the gift and transfer use of the property. According to Pfizer, the facility has a replacement value of $50 million. MSU’s action followed a year of conversations with industry, state and community leaders, plus operational and financial planning, site assessment and feasibility review.

Lakeshore Advantage and MSU secured financial support for the initiative from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation through a Michigan Strategic Fund grant competition. The local community raised $5.3 million to establish an endowment within the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area which will support the MSU Bioeconomy Institute.

Throughout 2008, Pfizer spent over 9 million dollars making modifications, renovations, and upgrades that would permit them to turn over a first-class, ready-to-occupy biochemical research and development facility.

MSU began operations from the site in the second quarter of 2009, hiring a highly qualified core of experienced former Pfizer employees to oversee the operation of the facility. MSU envisions using the site to complement and extend campus research that supports the state’s emerging bioeconomy, including biofuels, bio-based chemicals and biomaterials.

The BioBusiness Accelerator, a Lakeshore Advantage initiative, began operating from offices at the Institute during the second quarter of 2009 and is actively recruiting small bioeconomy-related businesses to lease space within the building. Under contract with MSU, the BioBusiness Accelerator will also administer the business development and incubation function that is part of MSU’s overall strategy for maximizing the utilization and impact of the Institute’s activities on Michigan’s emerging bioeconomy.