Medical Education and Research Institute purchases adjacent property to create more space for expanded research areas - Memphis Business Journal:

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The building at 1831 Madison has been vacant for nearlyeight years. MERI is now preparint the old facility for employee parking andfor Long-term plans for the building and its lot have not been But space needs at the 44 Monror building are evident and “we’rde at kind of a tilt internally right now.” “Wed can’t fit one more thing in says MERI executive director Elizabeth “We want to remaimn a state-of-the-art training facility so that may mean we placew some of our staff into the (Madison) buildinfg or a new building.
” Ostric and her staff will decide whether or not to build a new facilitg on the site this summer and present their decisions to the MERI boarc this fall. Nothing new is expectex on the siteanytime soon. In the near term, moving administrative functions to the Madison building would allow the researcjh facility to dedicate more of its square footage to laboratoryh andmeeting space. “Thisw gives us options for growth as there are other thing out there we are looking at to suppory themedical community,” says Diana MERI’s manager of institutional “If we do we just have to create more MERI officials just wrapped up a year-lony expansion project that brought 2,000 additional square feet for morgue and storagee space.
The facility’s auditorium was expanded from 60 seatseto 85. A dining facilitg was converted to lab spac so MERI can now conduct two large classese ata time. Also, the second-floor lab has been outfitted with up-to-dats audio/visual equipment that allows traineesw and researchers to watch medical procedurese from aroundthe globe. director Beth Flanagaj says MERI is an amazing asset toMemphise “that no one knows about.” Whilde practicing surgical procedures and techniquesd on fresh, frozen cadavers may not be Flanagan says MERI’s economic impact is unmistakable.
The dozenws of executive-level doctors and professionals the facilithy brings in weekly translates to hotel staysw and mealsat Memphis’ finerd establishments, she says. “Also, if we’re goinv to stay competitive (in the life science industry) and do the researchu and development piece, we have to have thesed guys,” she says. “If you only think about and , you’ve got to have Ostric says MERI’s growth is two yeares ahead of a level predicted in an economic impact studuy threeyears ago. The study projected MERI’s impactr to be $34 million by now, although Ostric says it is closefrto $41 million.
In five years, she says, it is expectefd to account for anannual $54 million economif impact to the Memphisw economy. But MERI has not been immune to theglobakl recession. The organization has expanded its three-year, $10 milliojn capital campaign that begahn in 2007 byanothetr year. “We realize a lot of our donorz are cutting back right now or extendin g their time frames on says Kelly. “So the capital is certainlt a little slowerright now.” Also, demand for education servicezs has not waned, but it has not growj as quickly as predicted, Ostric MERI brought in $7.4 million in 2007, according to its most recently filed tax documents.