Economic Development Administration (EDA) funding of $10.0 million will be matched by $23.0 million in UNLV funds to purchase an existing building – one that used to serve as a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility – and rapidly transform it into an ecosystem-changing biomedical project in the heart of an EDA-supported 120-acre Tech Park (Harry Reid Research and Technology Park). As encouraged throughout our CEDS and FDA reports, upon purchasing this building, the university will have new and much-needed infrastructure that will support the development and manufacturing of innovative new biomedical products (including, potentially, vaccines) as well as their direct distribution through on-site clinical facilities. This project will create jobs and boost regional economic impact. By building out the biomedical, health, and advanced manufacturing sectors, this project provides a transformative, one-of-a-kind-in-the-region facility that in turn helps transform a unidimensional economy, hence providing a far greater resilience overall by enhancing the range of new job-producing sectors that can flourish here (even when the tourism industry falters). Over a five-year timeframe, this project will create and/or retain 350 direct jobs in high-paying medical and advanced manufacturing fields, leading to $114.9 million in direct economic impact annually ($172.6 million including indirect and induced impacts).
