The University of Arizona has drawn up preliminary plans to triple the size of its Science and Technology Park over the next decade to 6 million square feet, including a complex of wet-labs and high-tech office space.
The park, which the university purchased from original tenant IBM in 1994, currently houses IBM and Raytheon offices, plus numerous small high-tech firms and a tech incubator. With 96 percent of its 2 million square feet currently being utilized, the park is now a financially self-sustaining structure. The plans for the expansion, which were brought before the Arizona Board of Regents in late June, are speculative and do not hinge on prospective tenants or advance leases.
Bruce Wright, chief operating officer of the park and associate vice president of UA, admitted to the Arizona Daily Star that the expansion plans for the science and technology park do not address an imminent realty demand; nonetheless, he said that the potential park expansion is imperative if Tucson is to compete in the future recruitment of high-tech companies to the region as Arizona’s biosciences industry grows.
“We want to have space in our inventory so we can bring new high-tech companies into Tucson,” Wright told the Star. “If we don’t have space, we’re going to lose them, because they’re not going to wait around for us to build it.”
Developers are also looking to construct a large hotel and state-of-the-art conference center on site, plus space for retail stores and support services for the main tenants, such as architects, accountants, and attorneys, according to Wright.
ABOR will vote on the expansion plans in an upcoming meeting.
For more information:
“UA technology park could triple in size,” The Arizona Daily Star, 07/02/04
“UA opens building at sci-tech park,” 02/14/2003