Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals has opened its new custom-engineered R&D Facility at the Mink Building in West Harlem’s Manhattanville Factory District of New York City, adjacent to Columbia University and City College.
 
The company’s state-of-the-art research facility includes approximately 10,000 rsf of purpose-built lab space including two clean rooms for cell therapy manufacturing. In addition to continuing and expanding its research, Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals is now able to manufacture cells in-house, accelerating and simplifying the commercialization of its major cell therapy product candidates. The company will use its clean rooms to produce its HEMO-CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.
 
Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals was most recently located at the SUNY Downstate campus in Brooklyn prior to moving to West Harlem. It chose the Factory District over other New York and New Jersey options because of the area’s convenience to many different parts of the City, New Jersey and Westchester, and based on its desire to be part of the city’s fastest-growing life sciences cluster.
 
“I am thrilled to have moved into our customized and innovative lab space,” said Dr. Vladislav Sandler, co-founder and CEO, Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals. “The choice for our lab’s continued growth was clear. With several current and future vivarium options, and the opportunity to collaborate with nearby world-class educational institutions including Columbia University and City College, the Mink Building offered an unmatched combination of advantages to operate and grow. Additionally, Janus was able to provide us with the future flexibility that is critical for us to continue to grow further.”
 
“It is exciting each time a new tenant opens here. With Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals beginning work in such a highly specialized lab that required two clean rooms, the Manhattanville Factory District continues to deliver on its masterplan of becoming New York’s premier life science ecosystem,” said Scott Metzner, principal of the Janus Property Company. “We are not only expecting to announce additional similar lab tenancies over the summer but are also pleased with our non-lab lease-up including at our recently-completed Malt House.”
 
The Mink Building, located on West 126th Street at Amsterdam Avenue, has been completely rebuilt by Janus while preserving and enhancing the building’s singular industrial charms. The building features expansive ceiling heights and flexible, technology-enabled office and lab settings. The building and the rest of the Factory District are conveniently located in the 125th Street arts and innovation district which stretches from the Apollo Theater to the east to the Jerome Greene Science Center to the west and Advanced Science Research Center to the north.
 
Upon completion, the District will total over a million square feet of new mixed-use buildings that will be interconnected by a series of beautifully-landscaped greenways and courtyards designed by Terrainwork.