Old Mattress Factory Christened as New Research Center

Standing in an old industrial building marred with rust and graffiti, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley said today's event formally announcing a partnership for a new research center downtown will be one for the ages.

"In times to come, when people realize we've become a national center for high-tech, intellectual, knowledge-based jobs, you will be able to trace that back to this moment," Riley said.

This morning, the mayor joined members of City Council, the Medical University of South Carolina and the S.C. Research Authority to announce a collaborative among the organizations to create a center aimed at fostering research, particularly in the health sciences.

For 30 years at $1 a year, the city has agreed to lease the 28,000-square-foot building at 645 Meeting St. The SCRA plans to spend about $5 million refurbishing the dated industrial building, which once served as a mattress factory. Work on the building is expected to begin by the end of the year, and the center is slated to open in fall 2009, said Marvin Davis, SCRA's vice president of property and asset management. The brick building is structurally sound but will require a new roof, he said.

The Legislature mandated in 2005 that the SCRA, which was created by the state to foster high-tech job growth, build three incubators across South Carolina to nurture good ideas in their infancy, when the people behind the research often lack funds to start a business of their own.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm feeling very excited today just being here in this building," SCRA President Bill Mahoney said. The center will focus on biomedical and biopharmaceutical research that could spawn commercial ventures.

"It's ironic maybe that we're having this announcement while there's so much mayhem on Wall Street," MUSC President Ray Greenberg said.

This center will grow the knowledge-based economy in Charleston and lay a strong foundation for the future economy, he said. MUSC researchers are constantly making new discoveries, he added, but the city has missed out on opportunities because it lacks incubator space.

"What it needs is a little home to nurture its development," Greenberg said.