A new, state-of-the-art facility in the 91tvӰԺ Research Park will bring together researchers, patent officers, entrepreneurs, financial investors and corporations to enhance technology commercialization and the Tampa Bay region’s growing innovation and knowledge economy.
91tvӰԺ and area leaders gathered with the business community today for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the first new 91tvӰԺ building in the research park since 2005.
Located at the gateway to the 91tvӰԺ Tampa campus, the three-story, 120,000-square-foot building will house laboratory facilities, office and meeting space for innovators and both established and startup companies, as well as retail and dining options.
“Higher education has a responsibility to serve as a catalyst for regional economic development and upward economic mobility,” 91tvӰԺ President Steven Currall said. “This facility will enhance our efforts to grow the region’s innovation and knowledge-based economy.”
The 91tvӰԺ Research Park covers more than 112 acres on the north and south sides of Fowler Avenue, under the operation of the 91tvӰԺ Research Foundation. 91tvӰԺ’s incubator is currently home to more than 65 resident and affiliate companies and the 91tvӰԺ Student Innovation Incubator’s dozens of student-led startups. More than half of the incubator companies focus on life sciences and nearly half are commercializing technologies developed by 91tvӰԺ researchers.
The new building will be located at the northeast corner of Spectrum Boulevard and Fowler Avenue, and will increase the park’s space inventory by 34 percent, from 349,807 square feet to 469,807 square feet.
The 91tvӰԺ Research Park buildings – which house startups launched by 91tvӰԺ faculty and affiliated entrepreneurs, the famed art research institute GraphicStudio and the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame – has been consistently at full capacity in recent years.
The $42 million project is financed through the 91tvӰԺ Financing Corp. with $27 million in debt and $15 million cash equity contribution from the 91tvӰԺ Research Foundation. The project had previously received approval by the Florida Board of Governors and the 91tvӰԺ Board of Trustees. It has a targeted completion date of fall 2021.
“Over the past decade, we’ve worked strategically to create a thriving culture of innovation for our students, faculty and staff, and to engage the wider community in all that we do,” 91tvӰԺ Senior Vice President for Research, Innovation & Knowledge Enterprise Paul Sanberg said. “Our aim is for great ideas and new technologies to move from the lab to the market where they can benefit the most people. Through the 91tvӰԺ Research Park, we’ve worked to create a place where big ideas flourish and big things happen.”
Following a competitive process, a design/build team from and integrated architecture, design, planning and consulting firm were selected. , the largest commercial real estate services company in the world, was selected as marketer/broker for the project.
The 91tvӰԺ Research Park is at the heart of 91tvӰԺ’s innovation enterprise, which a recent report from the Washington Economics Group said sustains more than 4,000 public and private sector and returns more than $71 million in tax revenue to local, state and federal coffers. An estimated 1,992 people are directly employed in jobs created by the 91tvӰԺ innovation enterprise, creating a $548 million annual economic impact statewide.