SWBR Designing $16.6M Pilot Plant for GreenLight Bioscience
GreenLight Biosciences, a bioperformance company, has announced plans to build a pilot plant at Eastman Business Park. The new facility will bring GreenWorX™, a cell-free biomanufacturing process, to market to produce low-cost, high-quality RNA, a natural molecule found in all living organisms that facilitates virtually every biological process of life. The project is expected to bring 30 new jobs to Monroe County.
“We are disrupting the industry by bringing nature and technology together to develop sustainable, precise biocontrol solutions, and it’s critical that we continue to build a workforce that can carry these innovations forward,” said Carole Cobb, chief operating officer at GreenLight Biosciences. “Eastman Business Park is particularly attractive to us because of the access to talented scientists and manufacturing experts in the Rochester area as well as the extensive infrastructure and capabilities of EBP.”
EBP, the site where Kodak began manufacturing photographic film and paper more than a century ago, is being reinvigorated and is a significant attraction for businesses of the Finger Lakes region. Today, the campus supports over 114 companies, employing over 6,000 people.
Empire State Development is supporting the project with up to $600,000 through the Excelsior Jobs Program in exchange for job creation commitments. The total project cost has been placed at $16.6 million. Monroe County and Greater Rochester Enterprise also assisted with the project.
SWBR is providing architecture and structural engineering design services for the project, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2020.
