PHOENIX — A major Arizona university will be involved in a $77 million research center in downtown Phoenix, it was recently announced.

Arizona State University will be the leading tenant in the Phoenix Biomedical Campus on Garfield Street between Fifth and Sixth streets.

Ventas, Inc., a real estate investment trust that specializes in the health care industry, said in a recent press release the project was one of about 10 relationships with universities.

“We are pleased to welcome another respected institution, Arizona State University, to our roster of university partners,” John Cobb, executive vice president for Ventas, said in a statement.

Wexford Science and Technology, the developer and building owner, will manage the 200,000-square-foot location.

“We’re very excited. Wexford is known as the developer of innovative districts,” interim Phoenix Mayor Thelda Williams told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

“It puts us in a different ranking in the world. If we’re important enough to have them, we’re important enough to invest in Phoenix.”

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held on March 7. The lab building should be open by late 2020.

A year ago, then-Mayor Greg Stanton said of the project in his final State of the City address, “When it comes to mixed-use communities centered around discovery, Wexford sets the bar.”

The development is part of a major bioscience and health care expansion in Phoenix.

The expansion of the facilities are expected to bring more than $3.5 billion in capital investment funding and more than 7,000 jobs to the city within the next two years.

Wexford has partnered with Yale University, Brown University, Penn State and Duke University, among others, on similar “knowledge communities.”

Each of Arizona’s three public universities has space at the biomedical campus.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the university’s role in the biomedical campus and the location of the campus. 

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ashley Flood contributed to this report.

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