NEW YORK, NY June 20, 2007 —The nonprofit -- International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, also called Eye-AH-Vee -- signed a fifteen year lease for space at the Brooklyn Army Terminal last week. The announcement bolsters city and state efforts to strengthen the biotech industry in New York.

REPORTER: Director of the nonpartisan Center for an Urban Future -- Jonathan Bowles -- says there's no question that biotech could be a growth industry for New York City.

BOWLES: Developments like what we're seeing at the Brooklyn Army Terminal are going to be pivotal to the City's growth in biotech. We need this kind of space developed. It will allow the city to hold on to innovative companies like Eye-AH-Vee and others.

REPORTER: The Terminal is located in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood and is accessible from Manhattan by water taxi. It is one of two major biotech projects currently underway in the city. The other is a 1.1 million square foot complex on the East River between 28th and 29th streets between First Avenue and the FDR Drive.