URL: http://www.nytimes.com SUBJECT

1097 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
February 23, 2007 Friday

Late Edition - Final

SECTION: Section C; Column 5; Business/Financial Desk; TODAY IN BUSINESS; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 861 words
HEDGE FUND RULES -- The Bush administration said that there was no need for greater government oversight of the rapidly growing hedge fund industry and other private investment groups. It announced instead an agreement on a set of nonbinding principles. [Page A1.]EXECUTIVES LEAVE BANK -- The deterioration in the United States mortgage market has forced the departures of two top executives at HSBC Holdings. The departures come after HSBC surprised investors by announcing that it needed to increase its reserves for bad loans.

[C1.]MICROSOFT LOSES PATENT CASE -- A federal jury ordered Microsoft to pay $1.52 billion in a patent dispute over the MP3 format, which is at the heart of the digital music boom. If upheld, the patent judgment would be the largest on record. [C1.]LABOR BILL -- Organized labor is fighting for a pro-union bill as if its life depended on it. The bill would make it far easier for workers to join unions, through a process known as a card check or majority signup. [A18.]OIL-FOR-FOOD SENTENCE -- In federal court in Manhattan, Tongsun Park, a South Korean businessman convicted of illegally representing Saddam Hussein in the United Nations' oil-for-food program for Iraq, was sentenced to five years in prison. [A10.]THE AMERICAN WAY -- With recent changes, start-ups are no longer rare in France and elsewhere in Europe. And Europe's new entrepreneurs are turning west, to learn the start-up culture bred in Silicon Valley. [C1.]NEW COOL -- Until recently, it looked as if the depleted ozone layer protecting the earth from harmful solar rays was on its way to being healed. But thanks in part to an explosion of demand for air-conditioners in places like India and China, the ozone layer is proving very hard to repair. [C1.]OPTIONS BACKDATING -- Lawyers and executives have watched the case of Brocade Communications to see how government investigations into stock option backdating will play out. But Brocade's $7 million settlement has offered little guidance. [C2.]CBS CABLE DEAL -- CBS announced it had concluded a series of agreements in which cable systems will compensate the network for the right to carry its programming. [C3.]BUILDING ON MYSPACE -- Fox Interactive Media, the News Corporation unit that operates MySpace, said it had acquired the Strategic Data Corporation, an advertising technology company, to help increase revenue from the popular Web site. [C7.]IRAN RATTLES MARKET -- Wall Street turned in a mixed performance as Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment rattled investors and tempered a tech rally. The Dow fell 52.39 points, to 12,686.02. [C9.]FORECAST HITS PENNEY SHARES -- J. C. Penney reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, but its shares fell sharply after it forecast a first-quarter profit below Wall Street estimates. [C4.]THE WAIT AT CHRYSLER -- A week after DaimlerChrysler signaled its plans to put the Chrysler Group on the auction block, an e-mail message sent to employees by Chrysler's chief executive, Thomas W. LaSorda, above, indicated it might be weeks or months before the automaker's future can be determined. [C3.]CANCER DRUG TEST -- Genentech said a low dose of its cancer drug Avastin worked just as well as a high dose in a clinical trial. Its shares fell amid concern that it would receive less revenue from the drug. [C7.]EXECUTIVES INDICTED -- Three executives of a cleaning and maintenance company, Rosenbaum-Cunningham International, were indicted on charges of defrauding the federal government of taxes owed on behalf of illegal immigrant workers. [A18.]AIRLINES ADDRESS RUNWAY DELAYS -- Working to head off passenger-rights legislation, the Air Transport Association, a trade group for United States airlines, has suggested voluntary fixes for long runway delays. [C9.]AMONG GENTLEMEN -- To help commemorate its 50th anniversary, GQ magazine is starting a charitable project called the Gentlemen's Fund. Advertising: Stuart Elliott. [C4.]ONLINELEFT HOLDING THE BAG -- When a fast-food chain runs into trouble, franchise owners often take the hardest hit. A special report on Small Business is at nytimes.com/business.YOUR TAXES -- Suggestions on surviving an audit, and tax tips on pleasing Uncle Sam. A special report is at nytimes.com/business.Business BriefingArticles on these developments are at nytimes.com/business.Gamco Investors, the asset manager headed by Mario Gabelli, said on Thursday it offered to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into mutual fund share trading and, as a result, has increased its legal and regulatory reserves by $3 million. (REUTERS)Johnson & Johnson's Centocor unit received a subpoena in connection with an investigation into pricing of its drug Remicade, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases. (REUTERS)The tax preparer H&R Block swung to a loss in the third quarter as losses in its troubled mortgage lending arm offset a strong beginning of the tax season. (AP)Getty Images, the provider of stock and editorial photographs, said it planned to buy the celebrity photo distributor WireImage for $200 million and was in talks to acquire another rival. (REUTERS)
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SUBJECT: US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (90%); PATENT LAW (90%); LITIGATION (90%); HEDGE FUNDS (90%); PATENTS (89%); NETWORK TELEVISION (84%); INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING (84%); CABLE INDUSTRY (78%); MUSIC INDUSTRY (78%); MORTGAGE BANKING & FINANCE (78%); SETTLEMENT & COMPROMISE (77%); MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS (77%); HOLDING COMPANIES (76%); LAW COURTS & TRIBUNALS (75%); SENTENCING (75%); SETTLEMENTS & DECISIONS (75%); VERDICTS (75%); DECISIONS & RULINGS (75%); INTERNET AUDIO (74%); LABOR UNIONS (73%); WEB SITES (72%); LAWYERS (72%); JURY TRIAL (70%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (69%); STOCK OPTIONS (66%); BACKDATED STOCK OPTIONS (66%); FOOD CHARITIES (66%); UNITED NATIONS INSTITUTIONS (66%); INTERACTIVE MARKETING & ADVERTISING (64%); INTERIM FINANCIAL RESULTS (63%); AIR POLLUTION (63%); COMPANY EARNINGS (63%); INVESTIGATIONS (61%); PATENT INFRINGEMENT (75%); OZONE DEPLETION (68%); CRIMINAL CONVICTIONS (75%); JURY TRIALS (75%); JAIL SENTENCING (70%) Terms not available from NYTimes
COMPANY: NEWS CORP (62%); FOX INTERACTIVE MEDIA (62%); MICROSOFT CORP (57%); HSBC HOLDINGS PLC (73%); CNINSURE INC (64%)
ORGANIZATION: UNITED NATIONS (55%)
TICKER: NWS (NYSE) (62%); NCRA (LSE) (62%); MSFT (NASDAQ) (57%); HSBA (LSE) (73%); HSB (PAR) (73%); HBC (NYSE) (73%); NWS (ASX) (62%); CISG (NASDAQ) (64%); 0005 (HKSE) (73%); NWS (NASDAQ) (62%)
INDUSTRY: NAICS511210 SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS (57%); SIC7372 PREPACKAGED SOFTWARE (57%)
PERSON: SADDAM HUSSEIN (55%)
GEOGRAPHIC: NEW YORK, NY, USA (79%) NEW YORK, USA (79%) UNITED STATES (94%); IRAN (92%); INDIA (79%); CHINA (79%); FRANCE (79%); IRAQ (79%); EUROPE (92%)
LOAD-DATE: February 23, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: PhotoGraph shows HSBC A.D.R. shares for the week.
DOCUMENT-TYPE: Summary
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

1098 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
February 22, 2007 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

The Magic Is in the Tweaking
BYLINE: By ANNE FIELD
SECTION: Section C; Column 4; Business/Financial Desk; SMALL BUSINESS; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 1105 words
About five years ago, Sarah Lurie, a personal trainer in La Jolla, Calif., learned about a demanding form of exercise she had never tried before. A longtime staple of the Russian military, the workout used something called kettlebells, cast-iron weights which Ms. Lurie describes as ''cannon balls with a handle.''

In short order, Ms. Lurie said, she became much stronger, without building up muscles that were too bulky. That is when it occurred to her, ''Why not start my own gym, focused on teaching customers how to use the equipment?'' She decided to call it Iron Core Kettlebell Strength and Conditioning, which she opened for business in October 2004.

The response, according to Ms. Lurie, was exceedingly underwhelming. Clients trickled in to try out the new workout, but seldom returned. After six months, with sales at a standstill, Ms. Lurie knew she had to try something else -- and fast.

Ms. Lurie's experience is far from unusual. Entrepreneurs are stubborn souls, not easily discouraged by something like initial failure. And, while there are no exact figures, according to small-business specialists, it is quite common for a founder to stumble at first, only to find a way to bounce back soon after.

''Many entrepreneurs learn as they go along,'' said Phyllis Ezop, president of Ezop & Associates, a strategy consulting firm in La Grange Park, Ill. ''With each lesson, they find out a little more about what new direction to take.''

In Ms. Lurie's case, she started calling patrons when they failed to return, to find out what was turning them off.

The problem wasn't the kettlebells, it was how she was approaching the public. Her brochures, her Web site, even the instructions used in class, all relied on what Ms. Lurie calls ''brutal strength-type language,'' and were simply too intimidating for most customers.

So, she revamped everything: the promotional material and the Web site to emphasize the workout's fat-burning effectiveness and other more conventional benefits. Business picked up.

Sales have not only tripled, but there is a waiting list of people for most of her classes. She has also sold 5,000 instructional DVDs, is moving into a 4,000-square-foot gym, three times the size of her original one, and is in the process of franchising the business.

While Ms. Lurie found the answer in marketing, other companies reach success by discovering different uses for their original technology, changing their sales philosophy or repositioning a product, among other tacks. ''There are many different types of reinvention,'' Ms. Ezop said.

Consider AdvancedMD in Salt Lake City, which opened in 1999 to sell Web-based practice-management software for doctor's offices. After three years of flat sales, the company's investors brought in a new chief executive, Jim Pack, to turn things around. After studying the situation, Mr. Pack pinpointed what seemed to be the culprit, the sales system.

''The philosophy was, all we have to do is let doctors see our product and they're going to want to switch,'' he said. As a result, sales representatives spent most of their time cold-calling and making door-to-door sales visits, with little success.

What was needed, Mr. Pack determined, was a complete sales overhaul. As long as doctors were satisfied with their software, they weren't likely to change. The only way to make a sale, then, was to find offices that were looking for something else. Mr. Pack pulled the plug on cold-calling and started putting more effort into search optimization and Web-based advertising. Leads soon jumped to 600 a month from 40.

What's more, with fewer face-to-face sales calls, he was able to cut costs in half. Three years later, the company has 120 employees and revenue has soared.

For StillSecure, the solution came from taking one element of the company's original technology and turning that into the main product. The company in Superior, Colo., was formed in 2002 to provide customers with a way to manage software applications distributed via the Internet. But, when the Internet bubble burst, many potential clients pulled away. It only became worse in the economic downturn after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

''We realized that it didn't make any sense going forward with our old business model,'' said Alan Shimel, co-founder and chief strategy officer. After further research, however, they discovered that clients were especially interested in the security applications -- systems for intrusion prevention and analyzing areas of potential vulnerability -- that were part of the initial product.

So they decided to focus entirely on those applications, transforming the company into an Internet security business. The firm introduced the first product in April 2002. With a total of three products on the market and around 100 employees, sales are now ''more than $5 million,'' Mr. Shimel said, and, from 2002 to 2004, grew about 2,000 percent.

How do small businesses figure out just what their next steps should be? Some companies, like StillSecure that have considerable venture backing, can take advantage of help from their backers. The company's two investors, Mobius Venture Capital in Palo Alto, Calif., and the 3i Group in London, which had put in about $21 million, introduced executives to specialists in the security market. Also, the firms allowed StillSecure to interview other businesses in their portfolio, for further research.

Even so, StillSecure, as Ms. Lurie did, also turned to existing customers for inspiration. Indeed, it was during talks with a few clients that Mr. Shimel learned that their primary attraction was the security elements in the original technology.

Other people tapped the insights of distributors and other important players in their market. When Michael Sands helped found LesserEvil Brand Snack Company in March 2004, at the top of the low-carb fad, he expected his specially designed popcorn to be an instant hit.

Unfortunately, by the time he was ready to introduce the product on the market, the fad had fizzled. But, after discussions with distributors, brokers and retailers, he learned that a similar product promoted as ''all natural'' would probably have a better reception. So, he redid the product using a new sweetener, revamped the packaging and introduced a new popcorn called All Natural Kettle Corn in 2005.

Last year, his company introduced a second product, a reduced-fat potato stick.

''Like any good entrepreneur, we knew how to admit when we'd made a mistake and how to adapt quickly to the market,'' Mr. Sands said. ''And we never thought about closing up shop.''
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: EXERCISE & FITNESS (92%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (88%); LAW PRACTICE (74%); SMALL BUSINESS (90%); PHYSICIANS & SURGEONS (67%); INTERNET & WWW (67%); CONSULTING SERVICES (65%); EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE (50%); FRANCHISORS (67%); COMPUTER SOFTWARE (62%) Small Business
PERSON: Anne Field
GEOGRAPHIC: SALT LAKE CITY, UT, USA (70%) CALIFORNIA, USA (73%); UTAH, USA (70%) UNITED STATES (73%); RUSSIA (73%)
LOAD-DATE: February 22, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photo: Sarah Lurie started her own gym in 2004 centered on using kettlebells. When sales faltered at first, she found success by fine-tuning her marketing campaign. Now she is in the process of franchising the business. (Photo by Jack Smith for The New York Times)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

1099 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
February 22, 2007 Thursday

Late Edition - Final

Far From Music Capitals, an Ohio Conservatory Fosters Contemporary Sounds
BYLINE: By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER
SECTION: Section E; Column 1; The Arts/Cultural Desk; Pg. 3
LENGTH: 875 words
''It's a little like Haydn must have felt at Esterhazy,'' said Lewis Nielson, a professor of composition at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, explaining some of the factors that make the institution a hotbed for new music. ''We aren't isolated any more than he was, but just isolated enough to focus our energies.''

In recent years Oberlin has produced some of the top names in contemporary music, including the innovative ensembles International Contemporary Ensemble and Eighth Blackbird and soloists, like the violinist Jennifer Koh, who champions new repertory. Oberlin students are encouraged to experiment by Timothy Weiss, director of the conservatory's respected Contemporary Music Ensemble.

The ensemble will perform the high-tech American premiere production of ''Lost Highway,'' the opera that Olga Neuwirth, the Austrian modernist composer, based on David Lynch's film of the same name, at Columbia University's Miller Theater tomorrow and Saturday.

It's a risky production, said David H. Stull, dean of the conservatory, but Oberlin fosters the idealism essential to encourage risk taking in an industry where the prevailing wisdom is often that music students are teetering on the precipice of a jobless abyss, or even a classical music Armageddon. But because the school is primarily an undergraduate institution, students can freely experiment without the job worries facing musicians doing graduate degree work elsewhere.

Ms. Koh, who received a degree in English from Oberlin College while taking violin lessons at the conservatory (the two institutions share a campus), said that the conservatory gave her ''the freedom to explore different things.''

''I was so naive and idealistic,'' she said, ''that I didn't even think about making a living, and maybe that was due to the incredibly low rent out there. In that sense it is a protected place.''

Dan Lippel, a guitarist and member of the International Contemporary Ensemble and Flexible Music, a quartet focusing on new repertory, studied at Oberlin for two years and attributed the culture of contemporary music to the ''overall vibe of the school.''

''It's very activist and encourages entrepreneurial attitudes,'' he said, ''in contrast to other conservatories, which teach you how to fit into the orchestral box.''

That spirit of adventure pervades the programming at the conservatory, which was founded in 1865. For instance Lisa Kaplan, a pianist and member of Eighth Blackbird, said that although she loves Bach and Beethoven, for her senior recital she played an all-contemporary program that might have met with resistance at other schools. She added that at other schools often the contemporary music ensemble is ''the lowest on the totem pole,'' and that students all want to be concertmaster in the orchestra. At Oberlin, meanwhile, the highest honor is to be asked to play in Mr. Weiss's ensemble. (The conservatory also has an excellent orchestra, which gave a successful concert at Carnegie Hall last month.)

Mr. Weiss, who agreed that his ensemble has a certain ''sex appeal'' on campus, encouraged his students to help with programming. ''In an orchestra you play what you're told, when you're told and how you're told,'' he said. ''But in new-music groups the choices are made by the players.''

He also pointed out that new music requires extraordinary technical skills, the development of which are an important part of Oberlin's training. ''New music is almost elitist in that the technical demands prevent every player from getting involved. You have to have chops, especially in area of new complexity,'' he said.

Composition, Mr. Nielson said, is an integral part of Oberlin's music scene, ''instead of just cranking out soloists for 19th-century repertoire.'' And composers have plenty of willing students to try out their pieces, said Huang Ruo, a New York composer and founding member of International Contemporary Ensemble.

''It's a great place with a lot of experimental ideas and a free environment to do whatever you want, he said. ''It's in the middle of nowhere, and no one cares what you are doing. You can be as noisy as possible.'' He added that because there are fewer professional concerts at Oberlin than in major cities, students frequently get together to create their own events, often focusing on new music.

Given the number of young musicians applying annually to conservatories around the country, warnings about the purported demise of classical music seem to be exaggerated. Oberlin's rural experimental haven has resulted in successful music careers in a cutthroat marketplace.

But perhaps it's not so surprising. In any industry the best way to penetrate a saturated market is to offer a high-quality product. Mr. Stull aims to train musicians to take risks professionally. ''Previous to Eighth Blackbird's success,'' he said, ''if we had said that we thought a small group of students would make a living commissioning new works and performing nationally, people would have laughed. But we let students dream.'' The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble performs ''Lost Highway'' tomorrow and Saturday nights at 8 at Miller Theater, Broadway at 116th Street, Morningside Heights, (212) 854-7799; millertheatre.com.
URL: http://www.nytimes.com
SUBJECT: MUSIC (94%); STUDENTS & STUDENT LIFE (90%); POP & ROCK (90%); CLASSICAL MUSIC (89%); TEACHING & TEACHERS (89%); COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES (78%); MUSIC INDUSTRY (77%); ENTREPRENEURSHIP (67%); MUSIC COMPOSITION (78%); ARTISTS & PERFORMERS (77%); KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS (72%); THEATER (55%); COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS (90%); SINGERS & MUSICIANS (90%) Opera; Motion Pictures
ORGANIZATION: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (56%) Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble
PERSON: Vivien Schweitzer; David Lynch; Olga Neuwirth
GEOGRAPHIC: OHIO, USA (94%); NEW YORK, USA (79%) UNITED STATES (94%)
LOAD-DATE: February 22, 2007
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
GRAPHIC: Photo: The Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, led by Timothy Weiss, prepares for its New York concert. (Photo by Richard Perry/The New York Times)
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

1100 of 1258 DOCUMENTS

The New York Times
February 21, 2007 Wednesday

Late Edition - Final

Bringing Laboratory Space Back to New York
BYLINE: By ALISON GREGOR
SECTION: Section C; Column 1; Business/Financial Desk; SQUARE FEET; Pg. 7
LENGTH: 1131 words
When Eric Kandel, a Nobel laureate at Columbia University, formed a life sciences company, Memory Pharmaceuticals, in 1998, a lack of lab space options in New York City eventually forced the business to Montvale, N.J.

In March, the same real estate developer that built those Montvale laboratories, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, will break ground on New York City's first substantial campus for the life sciences, called the East River Science Park. The first tenants are expected in 2009.

Upon completion, the $400 million complex will have three buildings encompassing 1.1 million square feet of specialized laboratories and office space. It will occupy 3.5 acres in Manhattan between East 28th and 29th Streets and First Avenue and Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive.

Proponents of the East River Science Park said they hoped it would induce start-up life sciences companies like Memory Pharmaceuticals, which now has 65 employees, to set up operations in the city.

''There is huge investment in basic research in the life sciences through our medical research institutions, but we have failed to commercialize our science in New York City,'' said Kathryn Wylde, president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit group composed of 200 chief executives from companies in the city.

''There are about 30 bioscience companies a year coming out of New York institutions, and essentially, they're all going elsewhere.''

To change that, the partnership's economic arm contributed $10 million toward creating East River Science Park. The group also worked to enlist the cooperation of an array of top scientific institutions, including Columbia University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Mount Sinai Hospital, Rockefeller University, New York University School of Medicine, the Hospital for Special Surgery and Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Some of the institutions are within a 50-block corridor on the East Side of Manhattan, creating a natural cluster around the planned East River Science Park campus.

''The reason we think New York City is going to be particularly competitive is most other clusters have one or two institutions,'' Ms. Wylde said. ''Here, we have seven or eight major institutions, so the critical mass of science and of talent is greater here.''

In the life sciences, private businesses often collaborate with research institutes, medical centers and government agencies. The efforts tend to be clustered in a handful of cities, including Boston and Cambridge, Mass., and San Diego.

Laboratories used by life sciences businesses tend to have special features, like higher ceilings, heavier floor-load capacities and advanced mechanical, electrical, ventilation and plumbing systems.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, a real estate investment trust based in Pasadena, Calif., specializes in this type of development. The company, which is publicly traded, owns 159 properties, encompassing about 11.2 million square feet; six million more square feet are planned.

It is building the East River Science Park as a speculative development, said Joel S. Marcus, the chief executive of Alexandria. The company's tenants are mainly biotechnology and pharmaceutical businesses, but also include biodefense companies that might, for example, produce a vaccine for anthrax; concerns that develop medical devices; nonprofit organizations; and branches of government agencies and universities.

''We've got quite a few clients that we're going to recruit there, and we're in discussions with a number of people,'' he said. ''We've got a pretty good handle on the market.'' Mr. Marcus said the new center would have dozens of tenants.

Property development in New York City is notoriously expensive, and life sciences space can cost two to four times that of conventional office space to develop.

Alexandria did not have to purchase the land, however. It negotiated a land lease with the city for 49 years with two 25-year options. The parcel holds a parking lot and an old laundry building that is part of the Bellevue Medical Center campus.

Once construction is complete, Alexandria will pay the city $2 million a year, a figure that will escalate over time, said the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Alexandria will also receive subsidies. Infrastructure work, like relocating a sewer and other utilities and cleaning up the site, will be paid for with $13.9 million from the city, $27 million from the state and possibly $2 million in federal money. There will also be property tax abatement over 25 years worth $251 million, and breaks on city and state sales tax and recording taxes worth about $22.7 million.

That should enable the developer to keep rents at a reasonable level, helping attract start-up companies, said Bill Fair, the managing director of health care and bioscience at the city's Economic Development Corporation. ''What we strongly encouraged Alexandria to do, since it's on city-owned land, is to make sure the rents are appropriate to allow some percentage of early-stage companies to come into the East River Science Park,'' he said.

Lab space that has been fully built out at the Audubon Business and Technology Center, affiliated with Columbia University, is running at $55 a foot; the 100,000-square-foot center is full, with about 16 life sciences companies, said Carol Shuchman, director of commercial leasing and development at Columbia.

The only other complex offering life sciences space in the city is in Brooklyn at the Advanced Biotechnology Park of the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center. It currently has about 24,000 square feet of ''incubator'' space for start-up companies.

Mr. Marcus, Alexandria's chief, said his company was designing the buildings to attract both start-up and midstage companies, as well as biotech venture capital companies. Besides trying to keep new bioscience companies in the city, Alexandria will also try to recruit companies from the region, as well as pharmaceutical and biotech companies based worldwide.

But even if Alexandria is able to hold down rents to recruit early-stage companies, there is no guarantee that the life sciences will flourish in New York City, said Sheridan Snyder, entrepreneur in residence at Rockefeller University.

Those institutions turn only a tiny percentage of that research into applied science, products and clinical solutions each year, said Mr. Snyder, who founded the biotech company Genzyme in 1981 and has since founded other bioscience businesses.

The East River Science Park ''is akin to when the football coach says, 'I need a new stadium to recruit players,' '' Mr. Snyder said. ''It's a great step, but there's so much more than just putting up that building.''

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