19-02-2025
Mayo Clinic continues to work on Kellen Building with $6 million fit-up of ninth floor
Feb. 18—ROCHESTER — Mayo Clinic continues work on its Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Building research center with a $6 million "fit-up" on the ninth floor of the 11-story tower in downtown Rochester.
On Feb. 13, Mayo Clinic filed a building permit for the "Entire Fit-Up of the 9th Floor of the Kellen Research Building" at 305 Fourth Ave. SW. The valuation of the project was listed as $6.02 million.
Nine of the Kellen building's floors are devoted to medical research with up to six to seven labs operating on each floor. An estimated 50 to 60 scientists were anticipated to work on each floor, when the building opened.
Mayo Clinic did not respond to questions this week about the buildout of the Kellen Building, timeline for the work or what kind of research is expected to happen on the ninth floor.
The $120 million tower opened its doors in December 2023 with access to the first two floors reserved for a lobby, coffee shop and meeting area as well as the first few floors housing research labs.
Mayo Clinic originally announced a much smaller version of the Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Building in 2019. By 2021, the plan had almost tripled in size from a four-story building to 11 stories.
Mayo Clinic's Dr. Gregory Gores described the Kellen Building housing advanced scientific research that follows a more flexible, "non-ownership" model.
"This building will not only be a solution shop developing insights that lead to therapeutic applications. It will foster science with an open atmosphere. ... It gives us a new capability, a new direction of momentum," he said in 2023. "It is a big shift."
The Kellen Building is Mayo Clinic's first major Rochester building to open since the Gonda Building in 2001. The 21-floor Gonda also cost $120 million to build.
The Kellen Building is also notable because it is not part of the $5 billion "Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester" initiative. Mayo Clinic's major downtown construction is expected to be led by "Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester" projects through 2030.
