The City of Surprise is looking into building a biotech village in the city's center.

The biotech village proposal calls for a 44,000 square foot facility costing about $12.7 million. Annual operating costs, including utilities, would amount to $1.3 million. John Hagen, Surprise's economic development director, said that about 60 percent of the facility would be research space while the rest would be office space.

John Hagen presented the council a list of how the city could benefit from a biotech village, highlighting how a biotech village would bring higher-paying jobs, a new economic-development base, improved health care, and acclaim for Surprise as a biotech leader.

In addition, he said, Sun Health Research Institute and a research orthopedist group would anchor the village by immediately occupying 12,000 square feet of space.

Hagen's comments, made in a presentation to the Surprise City Council, were reported in the Arizona Republic, as were those of Barry Broome, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.

"I think what you have before you today is more than a biotech village," said Broome. "You really have a dream, a vision, for your community and the region, and an opportunity for Surprise to do something great."

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For more information:

"Surprise considers biotech pact," Arizona Republic, 04/22/2006