Mayo Clinic tops off its new futuristic research building in downtown Rochester

Oct. 17—ROCHESTER — Mayo Clinic leaders celebrated the "topping off" of its futuristic 11-story research center under construction in downtown Rochester to bring together "the right people" and "the right technology" to advance medical science.

Mayo Clinic executives and city officials signed the final steel beam of the

Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Building

then watched as it was swung into place.

The new research center

is being built on the corner of Third Street and Fourth Avenue Southwest. That's just north of the Opus Imaging Research Building.

"Groundbreaking research does not happen in a vacuum. It's the right people, the right space, the right technology, and the right market disciplinary collaboration," stated Mayo Clinic CEO and President Gianrico Farrugia prior to the installation of the beam.

Mayo Clinic Executive Dean of Research Dr. Gregory Gores told the small crowd attending the ceremonial event that six lead researchers will be based on each of the building's 10 floors of research labs and offices. Those 60 scientists will work with research teams, which will result in an estimated 500 to 700 people working the Kellen Building.

When asked if those scientists and staff will be new Mayo Clinic employees or current ones moved from other Rochester labs, he said it will involve both adding new people and moving current staff to the Kellen Building.

"The growth will be incremental," he said.

Gores did add that much of the work in the Kellen Building will focus on cancer and it represents an expansion of Mayo Clinic's Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Mayo Clinic originally announced a much smaller version of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Building in 2019. By 2021, the plan had almost tripled in size. What was originally a four-story building grew to 11 stories with 176,000 square feet of space.

The dramatic and different look of the new research building with sweeping and random opaque shapes covering parts of it was designed to represent the innovative work Mayo Clinic leaders expect to be accomplished in the center.

Both Farrugia and Gores told the crowd that it is expected the research teams in the Kellen Building will collaborate and partner with medical companies and people based in the nearby One and Two Discovery Square centers as well as the planned Three Discovery Square.

The Discovery buildings are part of the 16-block "hub for bio-medicine, research and technology innovation." The sub-district is part of the Destination Medical Center initiative.

Mayo Clinic leases 30,000-square-feet of space in One Discovery Square, which also houses a number of Mayo Clinic corporate partners including Boston Scientific, Exact Sciences, Royal Philips and WuXi Diagnostics.

As the first announced tenant, Mayo Clinic is also

leasing "a minimum of 8,000 square feet" in Two Discovery Square

as part of a "strategic collaboration" with La Jolla, California,-based biomanufacturer, National Resilience Inc.