a 37-acre business park with more than 300,000 square feet
of office and flex space. Gilbert is a community that recognizes the important of smart planning by addressing the need
for additional employment centers and continued enrichment
of residents’ quality of life, says Barry Broome, president and
CEO, Greater Phoenix Economic Council. For complete
details about the development opportunities in Gilbert,
e-mail at etooker@tracvc.com.
STATES
Arizona
State Gets First Dedicated
Bioscience Venture Fund
The Translational Accelerator LLC recently formed,
which is a private, Arizona-based $20 million bioscience
venture capital group. It is the state’s first venture fund
established to target early stage biosciences companies.
The group will invest between $500,000 and $2 million
in any one company, and investments will focus on companies devoted to developing diagnostics, services, prevention agents and treatments directed to diseases of the
nervous system. Funding will support efforts to move a
scientific discovery from the lab to the clinic, the so-called translational stage. The investments only support
firms located in the state or those planning to move to
the state. The venture fund will address one of Arizona’s
most pressing needs in its quest to build a thriving bioscience sector: the need to attract venture capital. To
learn more, visit www.tracvc.com.
California
BT Announces Solar Project
British Telecommunications plc (BT) broke ground in
February for a solar array project at its Americas’ corporate headquarters site in El Segundo. Construction was
expected to begin in March on a solar photovoltaic system. The majority of the system’s nearly 2,000 solar
modules will be mounted on the top of a state-of-the-art,
elevated single-axis tracking system. When the system is
fully operational late this summer, the company expects
to reduce carbon emissions by 642,000 pounds (290
metric tons) annually, as well as decrease its overall
power costs for the site in future years. According to
EPA figures, the reduction in carbon emissions is
equivalent to powering more than 150 averaged-sized
