UCI Moving to Create Biomedical Complex : Research: Private development of 124 acres would bolster O.C. economy, school’s reputation, officials say.

UC Irvine has taken the first steps toward creating a large, private, biomedical business complex on the west end of the campus, which officials say would bolster Orange County’s economy as well as the university’s reputation in medical research.

Calling it the “project of the turn of the century for UCI,” Chancellor Jack W. Peltason told a committee of the UC Board of Regents on Thursday that the 124-acre proposed development would include a maximum of 1.5 million square feet of research buildings and 670,000 square feet of supporting commercial facilities.

The university, which owns the land, hopes to lease it to private developers or industries, which would then finance and build a biotechnology complex. The property is at the junction of MacArthur Boulevard and Newport Coast Drive.

UCI has entered into talks with the Irvine Co., which is “very interested” in teaming with the university to help with preliminary work in planning the development, said Joseph DiMento, UCI’s assistant executive vice chancellor overseeing land management.

UCI hopes to attract major international biomedical businesses, and perhaps some corporate headquarters, to the center. The research would focus on four areas, cancer, neuroscience, molecular medicine and cardiovascular disease, and could lead to new medical products and treatments.

“This is evolving, and it is very, very early in the process, but we are very excited about its potential. It can bring to the county not only economic development, but also state-of-the-art health care, and that’s to the interest of the entire county,” DiMento said. “If it is as successful as we would like it to be, it would be a major feather in the county’s cap.”

Peltason, who is to become president of the UC system this fall, told the committee that the project would provide a “creative solution to the university’s financial burdens without asking for taxpayers’ support.” Revenues from the leases would fund UCI’s Bren Fellows Program, which is used to attract senior-level scholars and faculty.

At the same time, Peltason said, bringing top industries to UCI would improve the campus’s already prestigious biomedical science disciplines and “represent a potential catalyst for economic growth in Southern California.”

University officials have begun pre-development work and talks with the city of Irvine.

The first major step is for UCI to commission an environmental study of the potential effects on traffic, air quality, wetlands and other natural resources. UCI also must prepare land-use and street plans and analyze utilities.

The UC Board of Regents would have to approve the environmental report and any pacts with developers. DiMento said agreements and city approval could come as soon as 1993 or 1994.

The UC system’s only financial investment would be pre-development costs such as design work and the environmental report, which the Irvine Co. might help fund, DiMento said.

The university is already planning a similar but smaller research complex in its north end, known as UCI Corporate Park, which would be 50 acres and about 650,000 square feet of buildings, DiMento said. Peltason told the committee that a development proposal and agreement with the city of Irvine for that project will be complete soon.

UCI’s west campus proposal caught industry spokesmen in the area by surprise Friday, but they were intrigued by the idea.

“It sounds like an interesting plan,” said Shel Holtz, a spokesman for Allergan Inc., which manufactures eye and skin care pharmaceutical products at its Irvine plant. “It’s news to me.”

David G. Anast, publisher of the Costa Mesa-based Biomedical Market Newsletter, welcomed the proposal as a farsighted plan that will help keep the biomedical industry in Orange County healthy and competitive.

“It’s nice to see private industry cooperate with academia,” Anast said. “I couldn’t think of a better location in the area than UCI. I applaud them.”

Anast said he expects smaller, more specialized companies to flock to the center, while the larger firms will shun it initially.

The setting should “help attract the all-star type of talent--the researchers and the professors--that is necessary for building a strong foundation for future growth” of the industry,” Anast said.

DiMento said it is unclear at this point how large a role the Irvine Co. will play in the west campus project. The company, Orange County’s largest developer, has strong, longtime ties with UCI and originally dedicated and sold land to the state for the university.

“As far as I know, we wouldn’t have an active role in that project,” Irvine Co. spokeswoman Dawn McCormick said Friday. “We might serve in an advisory capacity, but I don’t think we would take any part in actually developing the site.”

The university land known as west campus has been earmarked for research and development in UCI’s long-range plan since 1989. The total campus is 1,500 acres, so a 124-acre biotechnology park is considered a major project for UCI.

DiMento said that no biotech companies have yet come forward to become involved, but that in the past, many firms have expressed interest in such ideas.

UCI officials said their land would be attractive to the industry because of the area’s large, skilled work force and proximity to the campus and John Wayne Airport.

“I see this as very synergistic,” DiMento said. “Our evolving reputation in the field of biotechnology is a means of attracting prestigious industries to the campus, and their existence here is valuable to our continued growth and stature as a major research institution.”

Despite the persistent recession, university officials are optimistic about the project.

“We’re realistic about the market. This is a long-term project that would be built out over a decade or two or more, rather than something we expect to benefit from now,” DiMento said. “This is the kind of long-range planning we think is essential for the university to do. By getting this work done now, we will be attractive to the market as (new companies) come on board.”

Peltason told the regents committee, which met in San Francisco, that the biotechnology industry is thriving despite the recession and is expected to grow by 15% per year nationally.

“As you know, cutbacks in federal defense spending have seriously eroded the economic foundation supporting much of the state,” he said. “But while the aerospace and defense industries are shrinking, many of the 21st-Century industries, including medical and biomedical products, are established in Orange County and are expected to flourish during the next decade.”

DiMento said he could not speculate on the cost of the project or the number of jobs it would create, since its scope has not been fully defined. But he said just the pre-development work, including the environmental report and architectural designs, could generate “hundreds of jobs.”

UCI’s two proposed business parks are the only such projects in the UC system, although Stanford and other universities across the nation have developed similar business complexes on their land.

The state originally purchased 510 acres of land from the Irvine Co. in 1964. In 1988, an agreement with the company modified how the university could use that land, allowing UCI to develop up to 2 million square feet of buildings for nearly any use.

Times staff writers James M. Gomez and Susan Christian contributed to this story.