FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact: Desiree Niccoli, desiree@alschulerpr.com, 412-535-5701
MICROBIAL GENOME SEQUENCING CENTER SIGNS NEW LEASE FOR SPACE IN RIDC’S CHOCOLATE FACTORY IN LAWRENCEVILLE
Pictured: The Chocolate Factory
Pittsburgh, PA—December 7, 2021—Microbial Genome Sequencing Center, LLC (MiGS) signed a five-year lease with Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania (RIDC) for 5,509-square-feet of space in the Chocolate Factory in RIDC’s Lawrenceville Technology Center. Relocating from their current 1,500-square-foot space downtown, they are more than tripling in size. The new space will be used for offices, research and will potentially include a lab.
Move-in is expected March 1, 2022.
“We’ve begun doubling the size of our staff and with this relocation hope to expand our service focus from microbes to larger organisms and eventually humans,” said Dan Snyder, Director of Microbial Genome Sequencing Center. “The Chocolate Factory is perfect for our expansion needs and has a number of attractive amenities that drew us to the site, including better parking, proximity to Lawrenceville, and adaptable space conducive to specialized lab buildout. RIDC has been such a pleasure to work with and we look forward to continuing to do so.”
“Robotics and tech aren’t the only industries thriving in Lawrenceville,” said Donald F. Smith, Jr., RIDC President. “There’s a growing life sciences cluster here and across the city, and MiGS will be in good company in the Chocolate Factory with fellow tenants Helomics and LifeX.”
About RIDC
The mission of the Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania is to catalyze and support economic growth and high-quality job creation through real estate development and finance of projects that advance the public interest. A not-for-profit entity, RIDC has developed over 2,800 acres of land in 12 industrial parks and manages over 40 buildings.
RIDC took ownership of Heppenstall Steel’s former 14-acre industrial site in 2002 with the vision of creating an urban technology park. The Chocolate Factory was originally an Atlantic & Pacific Company storehouse built on the site in 1930 before it became a chocolate factory for Geoffrey Boehm in the 1990s (now Edward Marc/the Milk Shake Factory), and has been completely renovated into a multi-tenant, office/high-tech manufacturing facility. Named the Chocolate Factory as a hat tip to its past, the 70,000 square-foot building is now home Setex Technologies (formerly nanoGriptech), LifeX, Helomics, and HEBI Robotics. More information is available at www.ridc.org.
About MiGS
The Microbial Genome Sequencing Center began as a core facility within the University of Pittsburgh in early 2015 before becoming its own private lab. MiGS aims to provide researchers with high quality sequencing data at a lower cost and industry leading turnaround times. MiGS performs sequencing and delivers data to within two weeks of receiving samples. https://www.migscenter.com/
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