A third lab-office building to be constructed atop a never-completed mini-highway downtown came into clearer focus Friday — as dozens of elected officials and business boosters gathered outside 101 College St. to celebrate the state awarding New Haven a $50.5 million inaugural “Innovation Cluster” grant.
That money will fund a host of different economic-development and infrastructure efforts, from building out a new “promenade” between Union Station and the Green to supporting the growth of the city’s quantum computing and bioscience industries.
It will also provide $14.5 million in gap financing for a planned new 277,000-square foot life sciences building at the old Coliseum site.
And it will help tee up the future development of still another lab-office building to stand alongside the gleaming glass towers of 100 and 101 College St.
“There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen,” Gov. Ned Lamont said — quoting Lenin (kind of), in a Russian revolutionary reference he said “always makes my comms team nervous.”
What this type of investment means for the future of New Haven, he said, what this means for the future of scientific research, for the future of pharmaceutical development and medical-device innovation and advanced manufacturing, for the future of good-paying jobs and lab access for public school students, is a reason to feel hopeful.
“I want you to believe in the future, too,” he said.
Lamont, state Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Commissioner Dan O’Keefe, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Mayor Justin Elicker, Winstanley Enterprises CEO Carter Winstanley, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and a host of other speakers announced that $50.5 million grant award Friday during an outdoor press conference held in the back patio of 101 College St.
That’s the new 10-story, 500,000 square-foot life science research and office building that opened last year.
The backdrop of the presser was a grassy expanse of lawn between Temple and Church streets — referred to by Elicker as “Parcel B,” and shown in poster-board design renderings as the future home of another lab-office building.
The focus of Friday’s presser was as much on the scientific research, workforce development, and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure improvements this $50.5 million is slated to fund directly as it was about a future building next door atop the former Rt. 34 corridor.
As detailed by DECD Deputy Commissioner Matt Pugliese and in a Friday afternoon press release from the governor’s office, these funds will be spread across six different projects:
• $1.3 million for the creation of a “New Haven Innovation Center,” which will consist of 4,500 square feet of “‘early start’ activation space” at 101 College.
• $10 million to support the nonprofit QuantumCT, a “statewide coordinating body for quantum computing infrastructure and testbed deployment, convening industry, academia, and startups.”
• $17.5 million to finance “pedestrian-first streetscapes, stormwater management and climate-resilient mobility infrastructure necessary to support Parcel B development” — that is, the open grassy space between Temple and Church and just east of 101 College.
• $14.5 million to serve as development fund gap financing for a new lab-office building at the old Coliseum site.
• $4.2 million to create a “multi-modal pedestrian corridor connecting Union Station to Downtown and the Hill neighborhoods, with a signature pedestrian arc bridge and linear park and a pedestrian/bike promenade.”
• $3 million to support BioCT’s programming “to bring together civic, academic, and business partners within the heart of the district and from across the state.”
Each speaker joked about just how difficult it is to explain what quantum computing is — while also gesturing towards the potentially transformative impact it can have on everything from the defense industry to drug development to health insurance modeling and “fin-tech.”
Imagine working in the life science industry and being able to model chemical reactions that are “too complex for today’s computers,” Winstanley said. Imagine working for a medical device company and being able to create models at “subatomic levels.”
Quantum computing is a technology that allows companies to “more efficiently and effectively model entropy,” O’Keefe said. He described the scientific work going on in the worlds of quantum computing, bioscience, and artificial intelligence — including in New Haven — as representing a “Silicon Valley moment” for the state.
O’Keefe also hailed Yale University and the University of Connecticut for partnering with the city, QuantumCT, and Winstanley on this successful innovation grant application.
“We plan to be the accelerator of quantum technology” for not just the state, but the nation, said Pamir Alpay, a UConn vice president for research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, while standing along Michael Crair, a Yale vice provost for research. (Click here to read more about Yale’s separate stepped-up investments in quantum research in New Haven.)
“Today is about science,” Blumenthal said, “and celebrating great scientific minds. Donald Trump, come here to New Haven if you want to see the future of America.” He then paused, before saying, “I don’t think I can extend an official invitation, mayor, but it is true that the future of America is exemplified by 101 College, 100 College,” and their associated scientific work.
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