URI likes 195 land for neuroscience center
Location would complement work on Kingston campus
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The University of Rhode Island wants to locate a second neuroscience center in Providence, potentially on 5 acres of former Route 195 land sought by real-estate investment and development company Wexford Science & Technology of Baltimore and Boston-based CV Properties LLC, URI President David M. Dooley told The Providence Journal.
That 195 land is "absolutely" a potential location for a Providence center to complement the university's work in South Kingstown, Dooley said. The university is exploring the possibility of partnering with Wexford and CV Properties to make that happen, he said.
URI began establishing the George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience on the Kingston campus after receiving a $15-million gift in late 2013 from former CVS Caremark CEO Thomas M. Ryan and his wife, Cathy. The institute's focus is on researching neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which Dooley notes "are such a plague on our population now as we live longer."
"We're very interested in co-locating in a facility with Brown [University] and other folks involved in neuroscience research, and this development might provide an outstanding opportunity to do that," Dooley said about the 195 proposal announced last week by Governor Raimondo's office.
"Obviously, if you're going to take new discoveries about how to diagnose and treat those diseases, you ... want to work very closely with the doctors and the clinicians who might be able to apply those to real patients."
Raimondo's office said the developers hope to build a multimillion-dollar life-sciences complex with about 1 million square feet of lab space, academic research space, a hotel, and retail and residential space. They want to build on Parcels 22 and 25 of former Route 195 land now available for development.
CV Properties spokesman Eric Cote said the developers have talked with URI and Brown, but neither institution is a formal partner.
Locating a neuroscience center in Providence would continue URI's expansion from its rural location to the capital city and would further the goals Dooley has outlined since arriving in 2009 to help improve the state's economy and create jobs.
URI offers an increasing number of undergraduate and graduate courses in Providence, including its Business Administration MBA, medical laboratory science degrees in biotechnology and cytopathology and degrees in film media, history, psychology and more. The most recent numbers show 800 students took all or most of their courses in Providence and 1,500 more based in Kingston took one or two Providence courses, spokeswoman Kelly K. Mahoney said Tuesday.
When URI announced the Ryan gift, Dooley and Ryan talked about the collaboration necessary beyond URI for the state's only public, land-grant research institution to implement its vision. Ryan said before he decided to donate the money, he spoke with government and private-sector leaders — including then-Gov. Lincoln Chafee, Brown University President Christina Paxson and Lifespan CEO Timothy J. Babineau — to make sure URI would be welcomed as a collaborator. Back then, Ryan told The Journal: "To a person, they said, 'We'd love it.'"
In an interview Friday, Dooley said he has been talking with Paxson and Brown faculty, Lifespan and Care New England about collaborating more fully and developing closer partnerships — "all built on the premise that URI would have a presence in Providence for research."
Dooley said he began talking about locating on the 195 land with CV Properties founder Richard Galvin about two to three months ago. Dooley has not spoken directly with Wexford, a subsidiary of BioMed Realty Trust in San Diego. Wexford and Galvin submitted their proposal to the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, which will discuss it at a June 15 meeting.
kbramson@providencejournal.com
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On Twitter: @JournalKate
