Oct 21 2014
A four-story facility with 82,000 square feet of leasable space is being built at Penn State’s Innovation Park, expanding the room available to new and existing businesses that promote research and economic development.
An artist's rendering shows the new four-story facility that's planned for Penn State's Innovation Park. Construction on the building, 331 Innovation Boulevard, is scheduled to be completed in late August 2015. (Image: Penn State)
The building, 331 Innovation Boulevard, will be the first in the business park to obtain LEED certification. The building is scheduled for completion in late August 2015.
A groundbreaking celebration hosted by managing partner GLP Development of Baltimore will take place at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, in Presidents Hall at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.
Penn State Vice President for Research Neil Sharkey said, the new building “fits perfectly with Penn State's renewed emphasis on economic development as described in President Eric Barron's address to the Board of Trustees at its most recent meeting.
“I have every confidence that the building will become another beehive of innovative activity that will serve to further the outgrowth of Penn State's formidable intellectual capital into the Centre Region and beyond.”
Dan Leri, director of Innovation Park at Penn State, said space in the park is in demand.
“In the past 18 months we’ve had immediate-need requests and sufficient inquiries for space to initiate the next build program in the west end of the park,” Leri said. “It’s one more step in the execution of the master plan build out. With no vacancy for the past few years, we need additional space to offer companies and organizations interested in joining the Innovation Park community.”
Innovation Capital Partners, led by managing partner GLP Development, currently owns buildings 328, 329 and 330 at Innovation Park. The $17.8 million investment in Building 331 brings the company’s total investment at Innovation Park to nearly $56 million in the past three years.
Robert F. Barron, CEO of managing partner GLP Development Company, said Innovation Park is attractive to companies seeking the unique qualities of a college town and access to Penn
State resources like research, technology and talent.
“Innovation Park is a unique business campus that’s unlike traditional office parks. It’s as much about the people and the connections they make through the park as it is about the buildings in the park — that’s been the key to attracting and retaining resident companies,” Barron said.
Barron expects Building 331 to become the first LEED-certified building in Innovation Park and meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s requirements for Silver level certification.
Sharkey and state Senator Jake Corman will be on hand at the groundbreaking to offer remarks on the project. Barron and Erwin Greenberg, chairman and founding partner, also will address their ongoing investment in central Pennsylvania at the event.
Innovation Park at Penn State is a 118-acre business park designated for business development, including incubating start-up companies and providing services to support businesses and their employees.
For more information on Innovation Park at Penn State, contact Leri at 814-865-5925 or go to www.innovationpark.psu.edu.