[ASU Diablo]

Slow and steady progress being made.

https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news...c-discovery-oasis-city-council-vote.html

As Phoenix City Council prepares to vote Oct. 18 on Mayo Clinic's Discovery Oasis biotech and health corridor proposal in north Phoenix, work is underway to bring companies to the site.

Dr. Steven Lester, medical director of Discovery Oasis, said the team is actively meeting with health care innovators to be part of the 120-acre biotech hub, which spans one mile south of Loop 101, between 56th and 64th streets, just north of Mayo Clinic's hospital campus in north Phoenix.

"We are truly excited about the prospects of making an announcement in that area," said Lester, who also is a cardiologist and health care futurist for Mayo Clinic.

City officials are excited about the project, said Nick Wood, partner with Snell & Wilmer and zoning attorney for Mayo Clinic. Wood represented Mayo Clinic in an Oct. 5 Phoenix Planning Commission hearing, where the Commission unanimously recommended that the Discovery Oasis project, via the amendments to the Desert Ridge Specific Plan, move forward to City Council for approval.

"It allows for Mayo to take advantage of an opportunity to bring collaborative companies to Phoenix from all over the world," Wood said. "One of the many things that makes Mayo Clinic the best provider of medical services in the entire world is the fact they're able to collaborate with research and development companies, wet labs and medical manufacturing companies. This permits them to bring them here, where the collaboration can be more efficient, more effective and more rewarding."