The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative last week signed a 15-year lease with New York City for space in the Brooklyn Army Terminal, the New York Times reports. IAVI plans to build a laboratory for vaccine research and development in the space, and the city is expected to spend $12.5 million to build the lab. IAVI likely will move into the space in early 2008.

According to the Times, there are about 114 biotechnology companies in New York City, but most of them have offices only for marketing and clinical trials instead of research and development of new products. Robert Lieber, president of New York City Economic Development Corporation, said signing IAVI as a tenant in the building's newly renovated industrial space was a vital move in the state and city's plan to establish a bioscience center at the Army terminal. "It's a confirmation that this is a good location," Lieber said, adding, "It helps people feel comfortable. They think, 'If a company like IAVI made the decision to go there, what do I have to worry about?'"

The city and state last August under a project named BioBat offered $54.5 million in subsidies toward building a bioscience center at the terminal. The center will be designated for companies that had outgrown their start-up spaces and want to remain in New York City without paying typical Manhattan rent prices. The Army terminal consists of two buildings totaling four million square feet, and the building to house IAVI is being renovated gradually with 900,000 feet of undeveloped space remaining (Pristin, New York Times, 6/20).