The second-floor elevator lobby in the recently-renovated Elm City Bioscience Center at 55 Church St. Photo courtesy of Svigals + Partners

A former office building in downtown New Haven being repositioned to lab uses now has a pair of tenants ensconced on two floors, and hopes to add more soon.

Local architecture firm Svigals + Partners designed the conversion at 55 Church St., which allows whole or half floors of the 8-story, 100,000-plus-square-foot building to be leased out to individual tenants. Each floorplate is around 12,000 square feet, and building owner The Hurley Group is aiming the property at startup firms looking for biosafety level 1 and 2 space to grow their operations.

“Transforming this building into an advanced science and research hub enlivened the ninth square neighborhood, creating a dynamic asset for the City of New Haven,” Svigals Associate Principal Alana Konefal said in a statement. “Elm City Bioscience Center builds on New Haven’s high demand for research and laboratory facilities, and adds to the region’s economy, overall,” with the center in proximity to lab facilities at Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital.

Build-outs for the first two tenants, in half of the building’s second and the entire eighth floors, have been completed. The floor layouts for each biotech tenant was modified to accommodate the company’s needs, Svigals said, along with adjustments to the interior color palette’s accents.

When renovating the building, Svigals said, its architects repurposed existing shafts to meet the tenants’ laboratory equipment and operations requirements. Concealed chases for acid-resistant plumbing and natural gas were also installed through all floors.

“We look forward to welcoming these biotech leaders into downtown New Haven and our brand-new labs designed by Svigals + Partners, the area’s premier lab architects,” Hurley Group president David Goldblum said in a statement. “We aim to make Elm City Bioscience Center a community for fast-growing companies graduating out of the area’s incubators and other smaller spaces; and these two companies are a great start.”

Lab space in the recently-renovated Elm City Bioscience Center at 55 Church St. Photo courtesy of Svigals + Partners

Break room space in the recently-renovated Elm City Bioscience Center at 55 Church St. Photo courtesy of Svigals + Partners