A portion of the former Red Lion hotel building on Vancouver’s Columbia River waterfront will be transformed into offices and wet labs for a Portland biotechnology company, under an agreement approved Monday by the Port of Vancouver’s Board of Commissioners, owner of the building at Terminal 1.

Port officials hope that AbSci’s lease of 6,200 square feet of former hotel space at 100 Columbia St. will provide a spark that could ignite a bioscience research hub at the port’s 10-acre Terminal 1 site, which extends west from the hotel property and adjoints the larger waterfront redevelopment project. Their ambition, backed by state, city, and local officials at a news conference Monday morning, is that an interim biotechnology center at the former hotel will leverage into construction of a new home for AbSci and other companies.

As an indicator of its grand vision for technology’s growth potential, the port has given the former Red Lion Vancouver Hotel at the Quay a new name: the Columbia River Life Sciences Technology Building.

“This is a very coveted industry sector,” said Todd Coleman, the port’s CEO. “We are going to rejuvenate and revitalize this facility, and this is one of the first steps.”

At the center of it all is AbSci. The company has developed a protein manufacturing platform that substantially reduces the production costs of therapeutic proteins and antibodies used in a wide range of medical treatment, including those for cancer, and hormone therapies, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders.