$55M bioresearch center coming at Health Village

A $55 million BioResearch Center is breaking ground near Florida Hospital’s downtown campus, hospital officials are expected to announce today.

Though the new five- story, 150,000-square-foot building won’t be finished until early 2015, Windsor Onix, the holding company, said the new building already is 40 percent leased.

One of those new tenants will be Mazor Robotics, which will announce today that it plans to make Orlando its U.S. headquarters.

The Israeli-based company, which provides robotic guidance systems used in spinal surgery, explored several U.S. cities before choosing Orlando, said Christopher Prentice, Mazor’s vice president of global marketing, who will make today’s announcement.

“We searched other markets — Dallas, Atlanta, New York [City], Boston — but Orlando offered the best package,” he said. “The future of health care is strong in Florida and especially in Orlando.”

The BioResearch Center is part of a 20-year master plan for a Health Village, a life-sciences cluster that Florida Hospital is working to build out over the next 10 years.

The vision for the village is to create an urban hospital surrounded by bioscience companies, residential housing, retail and the new Sunrail Station, which will open next year, said David Banks, the lead Florida Hospital executive overseeing the Health Village development.

When complete, the complex will create 8,000 jobs, andcontain 7 million square feet of new construction, said Banks.

The BioResearch Center will go up alongside the Translational Research Institute, another kingpin of the emerging Health Village.

The Health Village already has a sevenfloor medical office building, which has 400employees, and the 52,000-square-foot Translational Research Building, which opened in March and employs 75 workers.

At today’s groundbreaking, Banks also will announce a 248-unit apartment complex, which began construction this month. The five-story, $38 million complex will open at the end of next year, he said.

A 90,000-square-foot executive office building already is under way, and a12-floor Women’s Pavilion is set to break ground in January.

“We’re really excited to be part of Health Village,” said Mazor’s Prentice. “The ability to grow in a true community, with proximity to world-class surgeons and a well-run facility, all surrounded by residential and retail is very attractive.”

Mazor also has a robotics training alliance with Florida Hospital, and the company liked the idea of being close to the Nicholson Training Center, Florida Hospital’s robotic training center in Celebration.

The $10 million company has 65 employees, Prentice said. In the coming year, Prentice expects the company will hire 20 employees for its U.S. headquarters, and a total of 35 over the next few years. Average salaries will be about $80,000, he said.

In August, Orlando and the state approvedanincentivepackage tied to Mazor’s pledge to create jobs here, said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

“I look at Orlando as being the next great medical destination in the United States,” Dyer said. “When you look at Health Village, what Orlando Health is doing and what’s going on out at Medical City, it’s all complementary.”