this last section. this is really a great day for the bay area 678. >> thank you, mayor. we could not let today pass without major representation from the bay area city, since this is a significant link here between the bay cities. i'd like to introduce from the city of san francisco, mohammed nuru. >> good morning, and thank you for having us out here. i'd like to start by first of all expressing mayor lee's regret for not being able to come here. unfortunately, he got stuck at city hall. but with that said, we are very, very happy to be here for this event, and to join our partners. this celebration today marking installation of the 28th piece of the piece of bridge completes

the driveway, bringing the rage into san francisco. as we heard from the mayor, it is a very, very important part of the project because it does connect san francisco. as you know, of 100 million people use this bridge in a year to come to san francisco. but the construction of the bridge itself brings a lot of jobs to the bay area and we're very, very happy about that in support of all the work that our president is doing in washington to bring more of projects of this type. this bridge marks a huge improvement to connecting san francisco, and also connecting treasure island, which is the development that will be -- it's a development that's under way, and will hopefully be a place

where everyone can also enjoy and ride their bicycles. next year we'll be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the bay area bridge. i want to remind everyone to look forward to that celebration. it should be huge. i know there's a number of projects, some lighting of the bridge and all sorts of celebrations. with that said, i'm very happy to be here and san francisco is proud to be part of this project. thank you. >> thank you very much. i'd like to talk about the significance of what's been accomplished here today. it's another major milestone in the construction project that is replacing the san francisco oakland bay bridge. another major step forward in the completion.

obviously, it's very important, and as was mentioned earlier about the number of motors that use this bridge, it's 280,000-plus motorists that use this every day and it's an important economic lifeline, and this extraordinary work done today will ensure that this lifeline will be safe for generations to come. as we speak behind me, you can see that the final deck section is being listed into place. all 28 deck sessions will be in place and this is a massive step toward the completion of this engineering icon bridge. it closes the gap between the s.a.s. and the skyway, which we are standing on. it will give us a clearer picture of what the skyway will look like and the opening of the bridge late in 2013. we've been work at this. the department of transportation as well as the contractor and many workers and the subcontractors. we've been work on this for 21 months.

on february 3 of 2010, the first deck section was put into place. and i want to thank all of cal tran's workers, whose efforts over that period of time has led to this point as well as the contractor and the subcontractors for all the continued great work. the engineers and construction crews will be working night and day to livet all those 28 deck sections into place for this world class bridge and they deserve a lot of recognition and our sincere thank you. i'd also like to give a specific thank you in recognition to american bridge and floor enterprise, the main contractor on this project and to all the employees who have made this achievement possible, and we'll hear from the project manager of that endeavor a little bit later. i want to thank the oversight committee. we'll hear next from steve hemmingger. but i'd also like to thank mr. rinehart, who was not able to be here today.

i want to thank the residents for their patience and support on this important project. i'll close with message to all the driving public. we ask you to drive safely and move over when it's safe to do so. at this time, i'd like to introduce, as mentioned before, the executive drecktor of the bay area toll authority, >> good morning, everybody. we broke ground on this project, or broke water, i don't know what the right phrase is for a bridge, in the year 2000.

today is a big step toward completion of the project. i think it's important to mark milestones, especially when a project lasts this long. but the only milestone that really matters, as mayor kwan says, is when we can move traffic from that bridge on to this one. that seismic safety imperative has always been uppermost in our mind. and it continues to be with the reminders that we've seen with recent seismic activity just over the last few weeks. mayor kwan, i want to assure you we are going to open this bridge when you are still mayor. as for mayor lee, i guess we'll find out in a few weeks. we are going to open it as quickly as possible. we certainly hope by late 2013, or sooner if possible, and let me conclude, if i could, because we'd be introducing brian

peterson next, the project manager, that i sure hope now that we've got all the steel in place, we can really put the pedal to the metal. congratulations to all the workers who have gotten us this far and let's get the last stretch done now. thank you. >> before i introduce our last important speaker, i want to close my comments on a safety note and acknowledge other partners that are here, the california highway patrol. i do know that seward is here for the california highway patrol and i want to extend my appreciation to them. at this time, i would like to

introduce our last speaker, the project manager for this great project. brian peterson. >> good morning, everyone. it is a very exciting day. i appreciate the attendance we have here. it's a great day here. it's a beautiful day. we've got a lot of this evenings ahead of us here. today is one of many great days for the project and american bridge floor marks the erection of a last piece of bridge stack. and the final major piece of the fabricated steel for the project. today's piece will allow us to start the cable work in the months to come. so you'll see a dynamic change again in the bridge.

we are proud of the fabrication that has been provided by dpmc and we thank them for all of their efforts. we're also very fortunate to have an experienced work force here on the project that can accomplish great feats like you see going on behind us. without their skill, without their effort, this wouldn't be possible. milestones like today are only achieved through the spirit of cooperation, communication, and coordination. and for that, american bridge floor appreciates the team work of everybody that is here today and some special ones that couldn't be here as well. finally, i express our gratitude for the support from cal trans, the california transportation commission, and all of the elected officials that have supported this project, and like steve said, we look forward to

continuing the work on this project to drive forward to a possible opening to traffic and seismic safety. the paramount that's left for the joint venture to complete. i thank everybody for attending and i hope you enjoy the day. >> thank you all again for coming out to mark this momentous occasion. now i'm going to turn it over to bart for logistics. >> at this point, that concludes the speaking part of the day. and i know that some of you are going to remain on the deck with us and do your live -- we're going to go ahead and adjourn the speakers. brian, if you want to go ahead and allow them to take a peek at the segment, it looks like it's moving pretty well, actually.

>> thank you for joining us. i'm katherine sharp. we are very excited today to have a press release from the mayor and have him join us. this has been an amazing experience for those of us from the very beginning. we look forward to sharing that story with you. without further ado, mayor lee. >> thank you, katherine. thank you very much for being here. i wanted to join this great moment of celebration for

fibrogen, which is more than a serial. that was what i first thought when i saw that name. i want to congratulate fibrogen and all the companies that have spouted up. i had -- the creation of this experiment with bioand life sciences here in mission bay. now a few years later, it really began in 2009 where there were five companies that started in this building. today, there are 23 of these microbusinesses that are doing biotechnology research, clinical laboratory research as well as applications for that. right here, the three areas of work that they're doing. they told me they're here

because of the talent, the graduates coming out of berkley and stanford and the school systems are really feeding the kind of talent that they're wanting to have in their companies and the industries are growing, and they're growing from different kinds of bio research to clean tech research. so our formula that began there, and again, i want to publicly thank former mayor newsom for this, as he had that vision. now as of today, mission bay is 64% built out. as you can see right across the street. the hospital is almost halfway there. more than halfway there. under $1.5 billion build of the medical center. that is another attraction and it's attracting the

microbusinesses that come here. their square footage tenfolded right in that very same time. i think the companies here, from what i can interview, they're very excited to be here. they really feel the cross fertilization of talent that's coming in within the building. that, again, reflects not on the consistent policy we've had here about technology companies as well as bio, life science, and clean tech industries starting here, staying here, and growing here all at the same time. one of the reasons they can continue to grow is they do have a lot of openness to their interaction between the different companies so they get that kind of innovation going on. that's why we call it the mission bay center.

i'm glad to announce this today and announce this has been a huge milestone thanks to all of you for consistently being here. i know tom is going to say a few words here. but i know the city has done right, and you can evidence it right here. we started with good business sense, whether it was attracting fibrogen or q.v.c. and then started saying we can attract other businesses here. we've done the right messaging here. redevelopment has built the infrastructure, and now we see our future tax dollars contributing to the verticalness of these buildings and then the companies have come here in a very open and welcome way. and the talent is still continuing to be here. i exchanged my views that we need to keep our school systems very strong. because if they can continue graduating our kids with strong

science backgrounds and they do end up getting into great schools, not all of them will get into stanford and berkley, but if they can get their science now, they'll still be recruited by the companies, where the research that they need, the laboratory work that they need, and the clinical applications are happening here. so i'm very excited to announce this milestone here and to join all of you here with congratulations, and we're still in one of the most beautiful areas that -- this is why it's getting built right here. you can see b.a.e. from our port. they're here trying to do more cruise ship right next door. behind me, you'll see the future campus. they'll be filling in. all very exciting and we'll build out 100% of mission bay. and then we've got hunter's point and candle stick that will start a focus on clean tech.

so the formulas we've had, the tax and business approach we've had not only have been inviting, i think they evidence the success we've seen today and we'll continue doing that with you and enjoy more and i hope not to wait for another 2 1/2 years to get the other tenfold. i think it's going to probably go faster now. so thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you, mayor lee. i'd like to introduce our boss, c.e.o. and founder of fibrogen, tom neff. [applause] >> thappings, katherine. let me start by thanking mayor lee for coming. welcoming steve richardson. alexander realty, who is now the owner of these buildings.

steve has played a hand in many parts of what's gone on in mission barke not just here, but elsewhere. those that know him know he's had a major role in the leadership and the vision of what's going on and where we're going overall. i'd also like to mention and thank the innovation centers of the bay area and fizer for coming. nectar as well. those are companies that are nearby now in mission bay. also, the micros and the minis here, they are now, i guess by my count, 25. mayor lee 23. there's a couple that are up in the office area, the fibrogen building that are probably -- i'm counting that he wasn't. there have been 35 total over time. some have gotten bigger and moved into larger quarters.

some have venture owners that want them out of the city of san francisco and down the peninsula. some had to downsize. couldn't raise more money. so the picture has been one that's very dynamic. we would expect about 50% growth year over year. in the number of companies. internally, i would guess that a third of the companies would grow in the space they have inside the building. so it's burgeoning. it's not just doing ok or getting by. it's a place where we reached an equilibrium. it's a turnover and a huge amount of demand out there for the resource. i would also like to mention some fibrogen people. i've had to make a list. pardon me. jenny kosor.

rod ferman. rod stanley. katherine sharp. all people that work on this project every day all the time. the part i can attest to is that katherine has kept me calmed down at various times about this project, and that's her job in part, which is no fun. i think that pat kontraneo, our v.p. of finance, has been a leader and facilitator across the entire spectrum of activities, and pat is very self-afacing and doesn't seek to credit himself. but i know what he does and he does a lot to make sure things get done right in this program. so thank you, pat. when we started, we came from south san francisco, and we came

here because amgen, who competes with us in the markets, and jenentech were fighting over space there. there was a period of time when the rents in san francisco were higher than the rent here. the total cost here was still higher, but that one moment, i knew only happened once every couple decades. and so we jumped on it. we got our board to agree to let us come peer. the shorensteen family built this building. they did a very, very good job, but when we got here, we were alone and it was an economic crisis, a period of time. and we had this idea that if we had a quality building and $100 million of improvements, that there would be a lot of young companies that would prefer this environment to the alternative, which might be a garage and clean tech. or might be a lousy building in

south city somewhere. this is a tricky issue. we thought what we had would be valued. it turned out that we were right and it turned out we were wrong. we were right in the sense that a lot of u.c.f. demand came -- we had many venture firms support us and say this is a great idea, because people have hit the ground running at a time when they're normally very inefficient. we can avoid the capital outlays that go with small facilities. so we had those things. what we didn't get right was that demand was much greater. so it's turned out that it'sage about 40%, 35% of the total demand spectrum. and for me, one of the big surprises has been the really wide variety of spaces people want, which has made it much easier for us in that we are a growing company and we have to

allocate space, and especially labs, very carefully. but we've been able to fit people in in a way that might surprise you in terms of the leaseholds, the terms of agreement, the kinds of resources they're using out of our facilities, and so on. so it's been very flexible. the other point i'd make is that the citizenship has been good. all our friends, when they heard this, said you're going to regret this. you're going to have g.n.p. violations, people are going to steal your stuff, i.p., blah blah blah. it turned out not that way at all. so i don't know of a company that's been disciplined. i know of a couple of places where we had to tell people not to put their bicycles in the hallway and stuff like that to obey code. but not much at all in that regard. and in fact, i just sort of think of it as a lot of very good citizens, what the experience has been for fibrogen. imming that part of it is important to see because we take certain risks in making the

space available. today we have not been exposed or had to pay for taking those risks. in terms of the economic package, we assumed that a fully operating building, where our costs for the space they have are pushed through directly with no mark-up. it would be attractive compared to the alternative of having to build an entire leasehold at 2,000 square feet and build another one at 8,000 and build another one at 20,000, and that indeed has been the case. so people don't object about the economics and we stayed on this path of passing through the cash costs that we incur as the basis for renting out space.

the last two weeks i was in china. the cities are competing against each other for our factory in china so the back drop there is we have the first oral anemia drug, which addresses an unmet medical need throughout the world, where people cannot get therapy, it's too expressive, they can't get to hospitals, things like that. in china, there's about 20 million people that are desperately anemic by the u.s. standard. they're more anemic than the worst cases in the u.s. they're medically urgent cases. so we're the first to do this. what we'll require is you build a factory here to make the medicine, but we'll allow you to move forward on that path. so in the course of events, i

met many chinese government officials all over china. in the past two weeks, i got five different comments from different people about this program here. government officials expressing their appreciation for the fact that we would be willing to do this as a sign of how we might be as a business partner this china. and to me, that's very surprising. we do have one chinese tenant, who is an affiliate of the government. china medical city. i don't know if they're here today. what i've learned is that a lot of people outside of the bay area are watching what we're doing with a rot of interest, -- lot of interest, because how to create the starting point for companies other than just say go find money on your own. has been difficult.

particularly in life science where is a lot of infrastructures needed to be effective. so with that, thank you very much. we get the one week of the year where the weather is fantastic, or the one month, so enjoy it. it's not like this all the time. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you, tom. now i'd like to introduce eric cher. eric has r.n.d. for solaria. solaria has been with us a little over two years, one of the companies that tom referred to earlier that they've had significant organic growth. >> thank you. >> solaria technology started 2 1/2 years ago. at that time, we were down the

peninsula. we were two people, hadn't raised money yet. the idea was try to take on big oil and replace petroleum derived chemicals, replace those with a cleaner source. that's no small order, as i'm sure you're aware. at that time, we knew that we'd have to combine together a bunch of fields that hadn't been used previously. it was about that time that we learned about fibrogen and setting up this new space. i believe we were the first or second tenant in here as a micro company. we've decided we've been able to grow both the technology, the funding, so we recently announced we closed an additional $20 million, which is an investment we're bringing into the city, and used it to grow from two people to create about 30 jobs right now, all

located in san francisco. all because of the support that we've had both from the city through mayor lee, previously mayor newsom, and todd ruffo, as well as through fibrogen. i'd like to thank tom and katherine and jenny for fully supporting our organic group. we continue to grow and develop this innovation in partnership with the fibrogen incubator exunety here. >> so now we've heard from the clean tech side. now we'd like to welcome the c.e.o. of lexus. >> we are genetically energying a mouse