The 39 North Agtech Innovation District organization this week will move into a new “Collaboration Hub” that will serve as its headquarters and also aims to be a focal point for events and coworking within the district.
The 10,000-square-foot Collaboration Hub will be inside the Edge@BRDG building on the campus of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and that's also the headquarters of agriculture technology firm Benson Hill (NYSE: BHIL). 39 North is leasing its new space inside the 160,000-square-foot building, at 1001 N. Warson Road in Creve Coeur. Lease terms weren’t disclosed.
39 North said Tuesday its Collaboration Hub is one of several milestones it has achieved since announcing in April 2023 it was established as a nonprofit to manage the innovation district’s operations and long-term strategy. 39 North is a 600-acre innovation district that includes the Danforth Center, BRDG Park, Helix Center Biotech Incubator and Bayer Crop Science. It launched publicly in December 2016 after the U.S. Department of Commerce in 2015 provided the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership a $500,000 grant to create a master plan for the innovation hub.
Emily Lohse-Busch, 39 North's executive director, said the nonprofit organization's headquarters and Collaboration Hub will “serve as a front door” for the innovation district, providing a space to host community events and coworking. She said it could be used by startups located within 39 North’s footprint to host investor meetings and team meetings.
“It’s going to allow us to do something that seems elemental for an innovation district, but that we couldn’t do to the extent that we wanted to before, which is have a place to anchor the community, to be the place where everybody comes and you know there’s going to be like-minded people,” Lohse-Busch said. “Those collisions that we were formed to help make happen more often, we now have a place to do that.”
39 North will move May 1 into the Collaboration Hub and plans to open the space to the public in June, Lohse-Busch said. She joked she’s previously been “desk-surfing” since 39 North’s launch, working out of a combination of the Danforth Center, the Olivette headquarters of agriculture company CoverCress Inc. and her home.
The new space for 39 North comes as its team is expanding. Rishi Masalia joined the nonprofit this month as its program director. Masalia previously was vice president of biotechnology for Running Tide, a Maine-based bioscience company that has an office in 39 North. 39 North plans to add another staff member soon – a community manager who will oversee the Collaboration Hub. Lohse-Busch said the new roles are being partially funded through a three-year, $480,000 grant from the Missouri Technology Corp., the public-private entity that supports Missouri entrepreneurship and innovation.
The MTC funding also is being used to conduct an assessment of 39 North’s physical infrastructure “to inform planning for developing specialized facilities” such as new laboratories and greenhouses. 39 North has hired St. Louis-based PGAV Planners to complete the assessment, which is expected to be wrapped up this summer. That report will coincide with a pre-construction study for new “graduation space” within the 39 North footprint that’s designed to offer space to early-stage companies outgrowing their operations in the Helix Center Biotech Incubator. Lohse-Busch said graduation space would give companies a place to grow within the innovation district and “still have the sense of community they have at the Helix Center as they get bigger and need more space.”
Lohse-Busch declined to provide specific locations but said several buildings within 39 North are being considered for the graduation space. The pre-construction study is being supported by a grant the St. Louis County Port Authority awarded to the Danforth Center.
Lohse-Busch said she initially thought it could take two to three years to launch some of the initiatives being pursued currently by 39 North, saying the district's momentum has been made possibly by support of its backers and community. The launch of 39 North came through funding and support from seven local organizations: the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, economic development group Greater St. Louis Inc., city of Creve Coeur, Danforth Center, CoverCress, Benson Hill and Bayer Crop Science. Funding figures to launch 39 North were not disclosed.
Lohse-Busch said 39 North will have the opportunity to showcase itself later this year when the Association for Corporate Growth brings its AgTech Investor Symposium to the innovation district. The event has most recently been held in Raleigh, North Carolina.
