07/07/12 - First of CBIC's award winners at forefront of new biotech thrust
03/30/12 - New Future for Old Preston Avenue Coca-Cola Building
03/29/12 - Refenestration: Old Cola-Cola plant invites the light
07/21/11 - Building on biotech: Indoor Biotechnologies a success story that's staying put
03/28/11 - Brian McKenzie follow up article from The Daily Progress on CCBC
03/28/11 - NBC29's lead story on CityCampus Biotechnology Center
03/28/11 - Charlottesville Newsplex Coverage of Press Conference and Open House
03/17/11- The Daily Progress "Ex-Coca-Cola Plant to House Biotech Company"
From The Daily Progress...
First of CBIC's award winners at forefront of new biotech thrust
By: Nate Delesline III | ndelesline@dailyprogress.com |
Published: July 07, 2012
For starting a local company that’s developed an international footprint and launching a project to redevelop a historic downtown building into a research center, Martin Chapman, founder and CEO of Indoor Biotechnologies, earned the People’s Choice Navigator Award from the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council.
Presented earlier this summer, the award honors significant leadership in the local entrepreneurial or high-tech community. Chapman, who founded the company in 1997, was one of seven firms or individuals to receive honors from the CBIC this year.
Tracey Danner, CBIC’s interim executive director, also was nominated for the award. However, unlike many of CBIC’s other recent honors, the award recipient was based on community-wide online voting. “It’s obviously ... very encouraging,” Chapman said of the recognition from his peers in the innovation sector and the community at-large.
“I think we actually have quite a vibrant community going on here and lots of meeting and social events being set up which tend to get people together and drive a sense of the biotech community development and companies.”
Chapman is a former professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Virginia and a former member of the UVa Asthma & Allergic Diseases Center. He’s also served as a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and other biotech and environmental products companies.
Chapman said that Charlottesville’s broad spectrum attractiveness as a good place to live, work and learn makes his job of sharing the successes of the tech sector easier.
“Because of the quality of life, that’s why we see a lot of companies developing,” he added.
Last year, Chapman and the company announced plans to develop the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Preston Avenue as a bioscience facility called the CityCampus Biotechnology Center.
“Certainly, as far as the CityCampus is concerned ... we’re anticipating if we can get companies moving into the project, [we’ll] have 60 to 70 people working there. It’s certainly one of the things that we’re focusing on and putting a lot of effort in.”
Chapman is also an expert in the fields of allergy and immunology, is chairman of the Virginia Bioscience Foundation and a member of the board of directors of the Virginia Biotechnology Association, according to a biography provided by the CBIC.
Gardy Bloemers served as co-chairwoman of the CBIC gala and has years of experience in the innovation and biotech fields. She said Chapman has always been an inspiration.
“He’s always been on my list of people to meet and ... I’ve been most impressed to learn about what he’s doing with CityCampus. [And] really, he’s got a global businesses that he’s running here from Charlottesville … In many ways, that’s a good thing for everyone,” Bloemers said.
Danner agreed.
“Martin’s leadership nature is gentle yet effective; he’s been a steady force behind the growth of our region’s burgeoning biotech sector. He’s an innovator, an entrepreneur, a friend to biotech and an extraordinary asset to our community,” she said by email.
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/business/2012/jul/07/first-cbics-award-winners-forefront-new-biotech-th-ar-2040793/
From EarlessRabbit...
Check out EarlessRabbit's coverage of The Tom Tom Founder's Festival Innovation Series including an inside look of the CityCampus Biotechnology Center at the Historic Coca-Cola Building. Dr. Martin Chapman and former Coca-Cola employee, Harry Fletcher, walk through the space and discuss the past, present and future of 722 Preston Ave. Enjoy the short video here.
From NBC29.com...
New Future for Old Preston Avenue Coca-Cola Building
Reported by Ed Sykes
Posted: Mar 30, 2012 4:35 PM EDT
Updated: Mar 30, 2012 4:39 PM EDT
There's new life for the old Coca-Cola bottling plant on Preston Avenue in Charlottesville. A project that will restore the building's historic appearance and redesign its interior space is now well underway.
Dr. Martin Chapman of Indoor Biotechnologies Inc. said, "The building inside is just ripe for renovation. It's very flat, very open. So it should be space that's easy to renovate, we don't have to move a lot around things or move things out of place."
Indoor Biotechnologies Inc. bought the building last year for $2.5 million. It expects to spend between $6 million and $7 million to restore the exterior and renovate the interior. Plans are in place to install historically accurate windows on the front of the building early next week.
The company hopes to move into the new space as early as summer 2013.
From The Hook...
Refenestration: Old Coca-Cola plant invites the light
By Hawes Spencer | editor@readthehook.com
Published online 10:07am Thursday Mar 29th, 2012
and in print issue #1114 dated Thursday Apr 5th, 2012
For the first time in decades, natural light will flow into the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Preston Avenue, as the new owner has ordered a tear-out of the brick panels that have darkened the former industrial site.
"It's kind of a demonstration project," says the building's owner, Martin D. Chapman, explaining that workers will replace the six front windows to show the state's Department of Historic Resources that it's serious about reviving the 1939 art-deco structure.
Chapman– who paid $2.5 million for the nearly two-acre site a year ago after Coca-Cola moved its bottling operation to Richmond– reveals that he plans to renovate the historic building as the headquarters for his company, Indoor Biotechnologies Inc. Currently located on industry-heavy Harris Street, his firm provides an array of environmental allergen products and tests.
Moving to Preston means not only a higher profile for Chapman's company, but he also plans to build an incubator space for smaller bio-tech firms as well as creating a new event/office facility inspired by Open Space, a collaborative workspace that opened near the downtown Atlantic Coast Athletic Club in 2009.
"We're moving ahead," says Chapman, who hopes his CityCampus Biotechnology Center will have over 30,000 square feet of space under roof by June 2013, "if the stars align."
Chapman says the plant was designed by an architect named Doran S. Platt, who designed the Winchester Coca-Cola facility in a mirror image of Charlottesville's. Possessing only two archival photos of the structure, and neither particularly clear, Chapman invites any members of the public to contact him with any images from their own attics.
http://www.readthehook.com/103107/refenestration-old-cola-cola-plant-invites-light
CityCampus LLC Announces the Master Plans for the CityCampus Biotechnology Center
On Monday November 28th, 2011, Dr. Martin Chapman and the CityCampus design team presented the master plans for the CityCampus Biotechnology Center to members of the Central Virginia biotech community, City of Charlottesville officials and residents of the city. To view the presentation as a PDF, click the image below.
Building on biotech: Indoor Biotechnologies a success story that's staying put
Some are bought, sold, absorbed, merged or moved but other upstart biotech firms flourish and grow, expanding and staying in their Central Virginia home.
Indoor Biotechnologies, specializing in allergies and asthma research, started in 1998 with one person in the office and one product in the beaker. Now it has 16 employees (2 in Great Britain), 120 products and does 40 percent of its business in Europe.
The company hopes to expand into a 10,000-square-foot space. As part of that effort, company officials in March announced plans to create a biotechnology research center in the nearly 38,000-square-foot former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Preston Avenue.
and include a biotech business incubator to help researchers become entrepreneurs.
It could also help the company expand its presence in biotech markets.
“We’re probably going to evolve into more of a contract research organization where we help other companies assess their research and results,” said Martin D. Chapman, president of Indoor Biotechnologies. “Because we provide a lot of the target molecules in allergen testing, we could assess potential vaccines and pharmacology for clients.”
Part of Indoor Biotechnologies’ success is that it has created a niche for itself. The company provides a variety of products, including purified allergens, antibodies, allergen tests and methods of detecting allergens in an environment.
The company benefited early on from Small Business Innovation Research grants from the U.S. government.
“Those grants provided some important funding and now we have a steady product line and we’re expanding our product line and we can do all of that in Charlottesville,” Chapman said. “We also have access to various suppliers in the area for our products.”
Some companies, however, form around new technology or research with the intent of selling. Others are likely to see their technology or company purchased outright by larger organizations. Although the sale and resulting profits are a boon to investors and researchers, it can create uncertainty for local governments and employees.
AdenosineTherapeutics and Biotage are among companies bought by bigger companies with large returns on investments. Both local concerns wound up moving from the area — Biotage was bought by a Swedish firm that later adopted the Biotage name.
Chapman admitted that in a free-market economy almost anything can happen, but he said there are no plans for such a sale or move by his company.
“Some companies start out with an exit strategy that involves selling the company or technology to a large pharmaceutical company or merging into an existing company, but that’s not what we’re about,”
Chapman said. “We produce products that other companies need and we’re quite happy here. We have an excellent quality of life for our staff, so the idea of us investigating a move to New Jersey is probably very remote.”
City officials are happy about that.
“They’re a great company and they’ve been working away quietly, growing and developing new products,” said Chris Engel, Charlottesville’s assistant economic development director. “They’re the kind of employer we’d like to keep in the city. They’re good for us and I think the city environment has been good for them, as well.”
Biotech center good for economy
By The Daily Progress
Published: March 30, 2011
That’s the way to get it done.
No, we’re not talking basketball … we’re talking business.
Indoor Biotechnologies has announced plans to create a research center in the old
The center will serve not only Indoor Biotechnologies. The company also plans to create an incubator there for other entrepreneurs, leading potentially to the launch of new research-based businesses.
That’s the kind of needed platform for scientific innovation this newspaper has advocated in previous editorials (March 6, March 7).
“We see it as a way to … help foster new companies, a way to help existing companies expand their space and to recruit other biotechnology-related companies from elsewhere in the state to Charlottesville,” company President Martin D. Chapman said.
Ultimately, the CityCampus Biotechnology Center could generate 200 jobs. The incubator will develop slowly, depending on tenant interest and financing.
Indoor Biotechnologies expects to move its own operations into the building within a couple of years, after renovations that will include restoring original window space so that passersby can look in and see its products being bottled. The company makes materials involved in studying asthma and allergies, as well as antibodies used to detect allergies.
From The Daily Progress...
Indoor Biotech has ambitious plans for Coca-Cola building
By BRYAN MCKENZIE
Published: March 28, 2011
What once bottled refreshment will soon bottle medicine.
Indoor Biotechnologies, specializing in allergies and asthma research, announced on Monday its plans to create a research center in the nearly 38,000-square-foot former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Preston Avenue.
Officials from the Charlottesville-based company hope to create the CityCampus Biotechnology Center that would include a biotech business incubator to help researchers become entrepreneurs.
Martin D. Chapman, president of Indoor Biotechnologies, told an audience of local officials and industry executives that the campus could attract as many 200 jobs.
“We see it as a way to develop incubator space to help foster new companies, a way to help existing companies expand their space and to recruit other biotechnology-related companies from elsewhere in the state to Charlottesville,” Chapman said.
From the Daily Progress...
Ex-Coca-Cola plant to house biotech company
The 32,000-square-foot building is considered historic by the city, although it is not on the national historic registry.
Indoor Biotechnologies, specializing in immunodiagnostics and biotechnology for use in investigating allergies and asthma, is planning on expanding into the Charlottesville landmark, one of the city’s most prominent 20th century buildings.
Officials declined to say how much they would pay for the building or go into detail about the move or the purchase. The company is planning a March 28 announcement to include more details.
Read More
From the City of Charlottesville, VA....
Biotech Company Purchases Real Estate to Expand in Charlottesville
 INDOOR Biotechnologies Inc. (IBI) recently announced its purchase of the Coca-Cola Building and plans to develop a biotechnology center in the space. The company will move its operations from its current facility on Harris Street to the new facility after renovations. The former Coca-Cola Bottling Company building was built in 1939 and is a historic landmark on Preston Avenue. The site occupies 1.8 acres and includes the former bottling company plant (12,000 square feet), an Individually Protected Property in the City, as well as 25,000 square feet of warehouse space.
The fourteen-year-old company was founded by Dr. Martin D. Chapman, formerly Professor of Medicine and Microbiology at the University of Virginia, to produce allergen detection systems and genetically engineered allergens for research and diagnostic use. IBI received an exclusive license to market and develop the technology from the UVA Patent Foundation. In addition, the company provides testing and analysis services for many manufacturers of household cleaning products.
In 2005, IBI completed a $1 million investment in newly expanded state-of-the-art laboratory and office facilities at its Harris Street location. At the time, this doubled the company's laboratory facilities, production capabilities and office space, and enabled cutting edge research on asthma and allergic diseases.
In recent years, IBI has experienced rapid growth with funding support from two Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) grants and a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to develop a consumer test for measuring allergens in the home. The company has over 20 employees including scientists and technicians from a number of Virginia universities. The INDOOR Biotechnologies Inc. Charlottesville office is located at 1216 Harris Street. For information call 984-2304.
From VaBio.org...
Indoor Biotechnologies To Develop CityCampus Biotechnology Center
A Press Conference to launch the CityCampus Biotechnology Center will be held at 11am on Monday, March 28 at City Space on the Downtown Mall, Charlottesville.
Representatives of the City of Charlottesville and the Virginia Biotechnology Association (VABIO) will attend and elected officials have been invited.
The City of Charlottesville has no available wet laboratory space for biotechnology and bioscience companies. The owners of Indoor Biotechnologies, Dr. Martin Chapman and Madeleine Watkins, have created CityCampus LLC to develop laboratory and research facilities for start up and early stage life sciences companies and to preserve the Coca-Cola building.
The site will be developed as the CityCampus Biotechnology Center. Indoor Biotechnologies Inc. will be the lead tenant of the new center. Indoor Biotechnologies Inc is a world leader in products and services for environmental sciences, allergy and asthma with sales in over 50 countries.
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