Institute Receives $12.5 Million Challenge Gift

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has received a $12.5 million challenge grant from an anonymous donor to anchor the construction funding for a new building complex on the institute’s La Jolla campus.

The gift to TSRI is contingent on raising an additional $12.5 million in matching gifts for the project by the first quarter of 2018.

“I am extremely pleased to announce this generous and inspiring pledge,” said TSRI Acting President and CEO Jim Paulson. “The gift and matching funds will support TSRI’s world-renowned research by providing additional advanced laboratories and new operating efficiencies.”

“Thanks to this generous donor, every contribution to this important project will be amplified,” said Dick Gephardt, Chair of the TSRI Board and President/CEO of Gephardt Government Affairs. “The challenge grant is a meaningful invitation to other members of the community to join us in an initiative key to Scripps’s work expanding the frontiers of knowledge and finding new ways to combat disease.”

Paulson added the planned facilities will consolidate research labs on the La Jolla campus, encourage collaboration among the institute’s scientists and strengthen ongoing programs in global health, neuroscience, addiction, structural biology and immunology.

The building complex, projected to open in 2019, will include two laboratory buildings totaling 147,000 square feet of space and an advanced 12,000-square-foot nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) facility. These buildings will be highly energy efficient, meeting Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) green building standards.

Situated at the intersection of John Jay Hopkins Dr. and Genesee Avenue, the new complex is planned on a site adjacent to TSRI’s electron microscopy suite, graduate offices and architecturally renowned auditorium and plaza. Currently, the site is occupied primarily by a parking lot, which will be replaced by a four-level parking structure and subterranean parking spaces under the laboratory buildings.

The total cost for design and construction of the project is estimated at $111 million, which also involve long-term financing.

Over the long term, the new facilities will reduce the institute’s operating costs. Once the complex is complete, total savings are projected at approximately $12 million per year in leases, utilities and other expenses.

To give to TSRI’s building campaign or to learn more, please contact Director of Philanthropy Christopher Lee, (858) 784-2037, clee@scripps.edu.

Facts- at-a-Glance

Buildings

The planned facilities on the Scripps California campus will provide:

Two two-story state-of-the-art laboratory buildings with 147,000 square feet of space for advanced biomedical research
An updated 12,000-square-foot nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) facility
A four-level parking structure with a capacity of 658 vehicles (in addition to subterranean parking under the laboratory buildings)
Construction to green building certification standards set by the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED)

Advantages

Providing state-of-the-art laboratories for TSRI’s biomedical research, which advances innovative treatments for conditions from Alzheimer’s to stroke
Saving an estimated total of $12 million per year on facilities-related expenses such as leases and utilities

Construction Timetable

Completed: Initial development plans drawn and permits submitted
2015: Detailed architectural and construction planning
2016 Q2: NMR facility construction begins
2017 Q2: Parking structure construction begins
2018 Q1: Laboratory building construction begins
2019 Q2: All facilities complete

Send comments to: press[at]scripps.edu

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Donations will fund the construction of a state-of-the-art building complex on the La Jolla campus including laboratory building (top and center) and an NMR facility (bottom.) (Renderings courtesy of DGA.)