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State grants $3.4 million for MSU center
6/29/2007
$50 million former Pfizer building was donated to university in May
Plans for funding a bio-research center at a $50 million former Pfizer facility are taking shape, and those who follow the transition of the Holland area economy are beginning to experience a deep feeling of relief.
The Michigan Economic Development Corporation granted more than $3.4 million for the center to be run by Michigan State University. Work at the Holland Township facility is to begin early next year.
"We feel really grateful to Randy Thelen and Lakeshore Advantage. They've done a great job trying to find someone who would make use of that facility," Holland Township Supervisor Bill Driesenga said of the Zeeland-based economic development group.
"It would have been a shame to see that building torn down, because it's been done with other facilities like this one," he said. "We've been positive about this situation the whole way through, but it's still a relief to see things progressing."
Last month Pfizer gave MSU its former research center, which sits amid the sprawling manufacturing campus on Howard Avenue. The university board of trustees is expected to approve the donation this summer.
The state money comes less than a month after the Community Foundation of the Holland/Zeeland Area awarded the project $100,000, the largest discretionary grant in the foundation's 56-year history.
"There are a lot of different dominoes in the funding process for the project. We've seen a couple of those dominoes fall, and we're really gaining momentum," said Thelen, president of Lakeshore Advantage.
"We anticipate additional federal, state and private support," he said. "As we get closer and closer to that Jan. 1 date, it's going to be a matter of how fast we ramp up rather than whether or not we meet the date. It's definitely going to happen."
A recent $50 million grant from the state to support a $125 million bio-energy partnership between the University of Wisconsin and MSU also could boost the importance of the Holland project.
"The connection is that over time these bio-energy models can be brought to the research facility in Holland and tested as a final step before being brought to market," said Steve Pueppke, director of the office of bio-based technologies at MSU.
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