|
Mayor Rybak Applauds Children’s Hospital Expansion
Example of Continued Growth in South Minneapolis’ Life Science Corridor
June 26, 2007 (MINNEAPOLIS) -- Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak applauded today’s announcement of the Children’s Hospital expansion plan along the Life Science Corridor in south Minneapolis. In a letter to Children’s Hospital President and CEO Alan Goldbloom, Mayor Rybak congratulated the organization’s leadership for this bold undertaking and for their continued faith in the City of Minneapolis and the Phillips neighborhood.
“We remain committed to whatever needs Children’s Hospital has to make this expansion a full reality,” Mayor Rybak said. “I look forward to helping ensure that this new expansion is a success and becomes seamlessly integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Mayor Rybak’s letter to Goldbloom emphasized the important role that Children’s Hospital has played in the burgeoning south Minneapolis Life Sciences Corridor.
“In the mid-1990s the hospital systems along Chicago Avenue in south Minneapolis had grown weary of long-standing problems,” Rybak said. “When I took office in 2002, Phillips was beginning to turn around, but you and other south Minneapolis health leaders asked me to do more to secure and build on the gains of the late 1990s. You all worked closely with me in establishing the Life Sciences Corridor, which has been witness to the following expansions:
- Abbott Northwestern ($160 million)
- Phillips Eye Institute ($5 million)
- Allina ($60 million)
- Hennepin County Medical Center ($80 million)
“We stand on the shoulders of great Minneapolis health care and civic leaders who committed themselves to healing Phillips, rather than leaving,” Rybak added. “Since 2003, all of the Life Sciences campuses threatening to leave Minneapolis in the 1990s have announced or completed major expansions. As a result, the City’s Life Sciences workforce grew by over 2,000 jobs in 2005 alone and continued growth is expected from these and other expansions.”
|