October 22, 2008
La Jolla, CA – The San Diego City Council unanimously approved the Salk Institute’s master plan in a vote yesterday afternoon that clears the way for the Institute to construct new buildings and parking facilities that will add a net 186,000 square feet of research and support space on its 27-acre site.
“The Salk Institute has been a foundation of our economy, not to mention the important scientific research it contributes for all our benefit,” Mayor Jerry Sanders said during the City Council meeting. “This expansion will help extend its research.”
The plan provides a blueprint for the Institute’s growth and development for next 50 years. The facilities under the city-approved master plan include significantly expanded laboratory space, underground core facilities, new green houses and underground parking. At build-out, the Salk Institute will have a total of 476,000 square feet of laboratory and support space.
Understanding the community’s interest in future development of the campus, key leaders from the Salk Institute held more than 70 meetings over the last four years with a variety of stakeholders, including the design community and historic preservationists, to gather input on the plan.
Prior to being submitted for approval by the San Diego City Council, the Salk Institute’s master plan was unanimously supported in July by a 13-0 vote from the University City Planning Group, and again in September with a unanimous 4-0 vote from the San Diego Planning Commission.
“This is a terrific plan for the Salk Institute,” said Marsha A. Chandler, executive vice president of the Salk Institute. “It not only is designed to give priority to the science and to preserve the architectural and historic integrity envisioned by Jonas Salk and Louis Kahn, it is also environmentally responsible. We are grateful to the City Council for approving this master plan.”
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to fundamental discoveries in the life sciences, the improvement of human health and the training of future generations of researchers. Jonas Salk, M.D., whose polio vaccine all but eradicated the crippling disease poliomyelitis in 1955, founded the Institute in 1960 with a gift of land from the City of San Diego and the financial support of the March of Dimes.
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