Bioscience company not committed to Olathe park

A Lenexa company’s relocation to the Kansas Bioscience Park in Olathe is not definitive.

XenoTech LLC, a contract research firm that conducts in-vitro drug interaction studies, was granted in January eight acres to expand at the park. The company said then it would invest nearly $10 million to build a 54,000-square-foot facility next year that would nearly triple the size of its existing location at 116th Street and Renner Road.

“It’s not a definite move (to the park) now, but we will stay in the area,” said Kammie Settle, a company spokeswoman.

Settle said the company’s building deal at the park was put on the back burner when the company engaged in talks to be acquired by a Japanese chemical company.

This week, Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd. announced its agreement to purchase XenoTech. The acquisition will strenghten Sekisui Medical Co., a division of of Sekisui Chemical, by establishing a U.S. presence and serving as the platform for it to deploy pre-clinical services internationally, according to a statement from the company.

To close the deal, Settle said, some of the company’s resources had to be diverted away from relocating to the park.

“Obviously, there’s so many people involved in these talks, and their time is limited,” she said. “They had to focus on one thing or the other. They had to focus on the Sekisui aquisition, not the building deal.”

The 92-acre research park at College Boulevard and Valley Road is a collaboration among Olathe, Kansas State University and the Kansas Bioscience Authority. The park is expected to generate $150 million in public and private investment and create 3,000 jobs in the next 20 to 30 years. Fort Dodge Animal Health has committed $40 million to relocate its Overland Park headquarters to 150,000 square feet on 30 acres at the park.

Chad Bettes, a spokesman for the KBA, said that a formal deal for XenoTech to locate at the park never was concluded, but that the company and the park were still involved in talks.

Settle said XenoTech likely will relocate in 2010. She said that should give the company enough time to find a site and construct a new facility. Settle added that the company still planned to nearly double the size of its 100-employee work force in the five years after expanding.

XenoTech was founded in 1994 by Andrew Parkinson, a professor at the University of Kansas. He will remain XenoTech’s chief executive after the cash transaction closes later this month.