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The University of Minnesota Rochester wants to expand its lab and classroom space and grow the city’s bioscience talent pool in the process.

“We're here in Rochester working to meet the talent needs and to tailor our programs specifically to those needs. We're pretty agile and able to do that,” said UMR Chancellor Lori Carrell. “It simply cannot happen without facilities expansion."

UMR is proposing to build out the labs and classrooms in Discovery Square, a cluster of buildings in downtown Rochester just blocks away from Mayo Clinic’s main campus, at a cost of $10 million. 

The university is seeking up to $3 million to help build the space from the board that oversees Destination Medical Center, a 20-year, $5.6 billion economic development plan to remake Rochester’s downtown and expand the employer base beyond Mayo Clinic.

DMC’s board votes on the funding request Thursday. 

UMR will also ask the city to kick in about $5 million from its sales tax for the project, and the university would pay the rest of the cost.

Chancellor Carrell said the expansion is the first phase of a plan to accommodate the school's growing student enrollment in programs that focus on science and health. Last year, the school served 1,122 students; by the end of the decade, it expects to more than double its enrollment to 2,260 students. That means construction of new academic and residential facilities will be necessary, too.

UMR has been particularly tight on space this year, said Carrell, prompting the school to temporarily lease space for classes at the Mayo Civic Center.

Carrell said a lot of UMR graduates go on to work at Mayo Clinic, but the new classroom and lab space would be designed to develop a labor force suited to work in healthcare and medical technology-related start ups.

Rochester’s health tech industry is growing, said Michael Flynn, who directs economic development for Destination Medical Center. Startups born inside Mayo Clinic have put down roots in the city while other companies have relocated there.

But Flynn said that in order to keep and nurture these burgeoning employers, a steady pipeline of highly skilled talent in areas like biology, chemistry and engineering are essential.

“As we look at this market and as we talk to people inside of this ecosystem and say, ‘What are the things that we need to produce here in order for you all to be successful?,’ talent is clearly one of those,” said Flynn.

Many of these startups are housed in Discovery Square, where the proposed labs and classrooms would be located. In the fall, a new shared lab space for new health tech companies will open down the hall from where UMR wants to build their own lab space.

Carrell said that proximity is a powerful way to inspire students and keep them in Rochester after they graduate. 

“A lot of our students can see, on a regular basis, someone going past their classroom with an experimental cancer drug, going up to the Cancer Center, where someone's waiting with hope,” she said.

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Catharine Richert

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The University of Minnesota Rochester wants to build a new, $10 million lab and classroom space near Mayo Clinic to train Rochester's future workforce. They say it would be a win for the growing university and the city.

Catharine Richert | MPR News

The University of Minnesota Rochester's main building in downtown Rochester

UMR seeks funds to build new classroom, lab space to train Rochester’s future workforce

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