Health Sciences Center Coming to Phoenix

The Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies. Image by CO Architects, courtesy of The University of Arizona Health Sciences.

Phoenix will soon harbor a new University of Arizona Health Sciences research facility. Once completed, The Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies (CAMI) will serve as a health sciences hub for the study of the immunology of cancers, infectious diseases and autoimmune conditions.

CAMI will anchor the 30-acre Phoenix Bioscience Core, the planned 6 million-square-foot development that will house biomedical-related research, academic and clinical facilities. The immediate area is home to the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

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Designed by CO Architects, CAMI will take shape at the intersection of Seventh and Fillmore Streets. The center will comprise several research buildings that will also include learning spaces and conference rooms.

The initial building will have community, collaboration and academic space on its ground and second floors, with eight stories of research space above. Research will take place in laboratories, clinical research space and startup incubators. The campus will also feature a shaded, landscaped courtyard with outdoor seating areas and a restaurant.

Project financing will come from the New Economy Initiative funds provided by the state to the University of Arizona and allocated to UArizona Health Sciences. CAMI’s development will be supervised by a 17-member advisory council of leaders from academic research, biomedical and health care industries, government organizations and corporations across the state.

An emerging life sciences hub

Greater Phoenix has strengthened its status as an emerging life sciences hub, capitalizing on the fact that demand for new life sciences lab space has been outpacing speculative construction throughout the U.S. over the last 12 months. As such, more and more research buildings have come online in the city.

One of them was Wexford Science & Technology’s innovation center, a 227,000-square-foot building developed in partnership with ASU and the City of Phoenix. Also located in the Phoenix Bioscience Core at 850 N Fifth St., the research facility houses a startup incubator and ASU programs, as well as private science and technology companies.

Some 22 miles northeast is ASU’s Health Futures Center, a 150,000-square-foot building built next to Mayo Clinic’s Phoenix campus that recently saw a significant groundbreaking. A few days ago, Mayo Clinic started construction on a research and education facility as part of its $748 million expansion. Dubbed the Integrated Education and Research Building, the 150,000-square-foot development is slated for a 2024 completion.