The University of Pittsburgh has completed the purchase of 3.5 acres at the Hazelwood Green site and hired the inaugural chief executive officer of BioForge. The University plans to break ground on the $250 million biomanufacturing facility some time in the early part of this year.
Kaigham (Ken) Gabriel, a former engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University, also will serve as founding director of BioForge’s Advanced Biomanufacturing Institute. Gabriel will oversee the design, construction and eventual operations of the life sciences manufacturing center.
Gabriel most recently was the founding chief operating officer of Wellcome Leap, an organization working at the intersection of life sciences and engineering to deliver critical medical and health care innovations at accelerated timescales. In a little more than two years, the organization launched 10 ongoing programs, ranging from artificial kidneys and depression biology to next-generation surgical delivery and resilient aging.
He also has worked as president and CEO of Draper, a spin-off engineering company of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; corporate vice president and founding co-lead of the Advanced Technology and Projects group at Google; and deputy director and acting director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Pittsburgh Business Times reported that Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University recently closed on the purchase of separate parcels at Hazelwood Green in the final weeks of 2023.
The newspaper said an affiliate of the University of Pittsburgh bought the site at 46 Beehive St. from Almono LLC for $3.6 million, according to public transaction records.
“The University of Pittsburgh is excitedly moving forward with the Pitt BioForge project,” a University spokesman said. “Mobilization on site has begun and plans are underway for a groundbreaking celebration.”
The design work is ongoing for the 185,000-gross-square-foot BioForge building along the Monongahela River. The Board of Trustees Property and Facilities Committee approved $120 million in June to build the “core and shell” of the biomanufacturing facility that will bring commercial cell and gene therapy manufacturing to Pittsburgh. The University has signed a lease agreement with ElevateBio Base Camp Inc. to occupy 74 percent of that space. Construction is expected to start in fall 2024, once the site pad is ready, with exterior construction scheduled to be complete in the first half of 2025.
CMU paid more than $1.3 million for property at Hazelwood Green for its new Robotics Innovation Center.
— Susan Jones
Have a story idea or news to share? Share it with the University Times.