Innosphere wet lab underway; dearth of FoCo space

FORT COLLINS — The new wet lab now underway by biosciences incubator Innosophere will be a drop in the bucket of local need for such facilities and quite welcome, nonetheless.

The accelerator occupies about 10,600 square feet of office space; about a third of it is labs. The new project is for 7,800 square feet of labs.

Local companies want every bit of it yesterday, the group said.

“This is definitely something we’ve long needed,” said Aziza Syed, real estate and facility director with Innosphere. “I’ve got quite an extensive wait list [of companies], some needing space immediately.”

Syed said the other primary provider of “Bio Safety Level I and II” lab space in the area — the Infectious Disease Research Center at Colorado State University — is full-up as well. It has about 7,500 square feet available to outside users after commitments to professors and students.

Between Innosphere and CSU there is about 11,000 square feet in play, except it’s not.

“All of it is fully occupied,” Syed said. “If they were able to open 50% more, they’d fill it tomorrow. That holds true for Innosphere as well.”

The startup funder submitted plans to the city in January and in May got $500,000 from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade’s toward $5 million in construction costs.

The formal groundbreaking date — more virtual than COVID-usual as it didn’t take place — is today.

The new facility is scheduled to open in April.

Syed said companies — ones “diehard needing lab space immediately” — will use the space for research and development. They’re already waiting.

One company will share current Innosphere lab space with another occupant until the building is ready.

Innosphere managing partner Mike Freeman said the wet labs will “grow the life sciences community” in the area and find companies that can go through the incubator program or become investments for its new venture capital fund.

That second fund recently raised $5.6 million for that purpose.

Freeman said the group would complete its first four buy-ins by the end of the month.

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