By Paul Gattis
HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is planning an expansion of its Huntsville campus, a project that will create at least 100 new jobs.
The city council on Thursday approved the city entering into a project development agreement with HudsonAlpha that will obligate the city to provide up to $2 million of financial assistance to help offset construction costs.
The expansion will be in the form of a 108,000 square foot building that will house the global headquarters of Discovery Life Sciences as well as the HudsonAlpha Center for Plant Genomics & Sustainable Agriculture’s Greenhouse and Learning Laboratories.
Construction has been underway since late 2020 but rising construction and labor costs along with supply chain issues and inflation have contributed to the project becoming more expensive than originally planned.
HudsonAlpha, a non-profit institute funded through both public and private money, is considered one of Huntsville’s crown jewels with its array of high-tech research. The institute, founded in 2008, has grown to include more than 1,100 employees, 14 research laboratories and 48 biotech companies. HudsonAlpha has a $3.2 billion economic impact in Alabama.
“This is the headquarters for Discovery Life Sciences, which is a big biotech firm which is going to be headquartered here in Huntsville,” Mayor Tommy Battle said. “This money is paid out in phases as they hit employment numbers, as they hit building numbers and investment numbers. It’s something that we ought to be proud of having in our city.”
Discovery Life Sciences is currently housed in the Paul Propst Center at HudsonAlpha.
The council unanimously approved the project.
“It’s heartwarming to hear that we’re going to have 100 new, good paying jobs in our community,” council President John Meredith said.
Councilwoman Jennie Robinson applauded the economic growth aspect of the project and how it broadens Huntsville’s economy beyond Department of Defense jobs. It’s been one of Battle’s focuses to expand job opportunities beyond those connected to the federal government, perhaps best highlighted by luring Mazda Toyota Manufacturing and its 4,000 jobs to the city.
“This is an important investment, not just because it brings jobs but it really diversifies the job base and I know the mayor has and his staff have very intentionally been trying to move away from the DoD base, which sometimes funding can fluctuate on that. So this puts us in expands that biotech market that we’ve tried to build here. So that’s great.”
Still, Battle indicated the city wants to continue to wrap its arms around the DoD jobs as well.
“We really like to have both of them,” Battle said.
