Another city quietly joins the ranks of those vying for favor as sites for bioscience companies to locate. A coalition of the city economic development department and several companies is starting by building a huge parking garage–nice forethought for building additional research facilities. “Parking has been in short supply on Michigan Hill recently. Grand Valley State University opened a Health Sciences building last year and Spectrum Health is opening a $100 million heart center this fall. Michigan State University also is eyeing the neighborhood as a possible site for some or all of its College of Human Medicine.”

The hope is that building the largest parking facility in the city (2000 spaces) will make the area more inviting.

With all the money that’s being poured into supporting the growth of the bioscience industry, we can hope that tremendous progress will be made in every area and people will benefit from the faster, more intense pace at which discoveries can be made. But it seems all the hoopla isn’t yet translating into support for startup companies. Guess there will have to be a trickle-down effect once everybody finishes jockeying for favor with the bigger, more successful companies.