Contact:
Ken Koch
(405) 377-3333
kenk@meridian-technology.com
Oklahoma Tech Park expands again
STILLWATER, OK -- The Joint Board of the Oklahoma Technology and Research Park (OTRP) announced today that a new, 46,000 square foot multi-tenant office/lab building is now in design for the park and is seeking corporate tenants. The building will provide office and lab space to industry partners of Oklahoma State University interested in collaborative research with the university and in the development of new products and businesses.
Venture II will be developed by IDEA Partnerships, the Joint Board's development partner, and will be located across from the 36,000 square foot Venture I multi-tenant building, also developed by IDEA Partnerships. The new two-story building will be designed specifically to enhance private company research collaborations with the university. The building's focal point will be a central atrium lobby that will provide space for events and informal gathering and other aspects of the building's design will support collaboration and communication.
OSU currently has a number of sensor-related laboratories in Venture I and, with the addition of Venture II, will have a coherent complex providing cutting-edge research and development opportunities for the university and its private sector partners.
Stephen McKeever, OSU vice president for research and technology transfer said, “Collaborative relationships of OSU with private technology companies can benefit all of Oklahoma 's citizens because it is from these kinds of partnerships that new products and new companies are formed. Venture II will provide even more facilities in which those collaborations can occur and will help seed Oklahoma with new jobs and industry.”
OTRP is a joint venture of the City of Stillwater , Meridian Technology Center and Oklahoma State University . The 160-acre site is located just west of downtown Stillwater and the OSU campus at the junction of Highway 51 and Sangre Road , adjacent to Meridian . The Park is currently home to OSU sensor labs, along with the OSU Electron Microscopy suite, in Venture I, and three private research companies: Nomadics, Inc., ERIL Research, and Lucas Newman Science and Technologies. Additional OSU labs are slated to move to Venture I in July, 2007.
OTRP's Joint Board also recently announced planned construction of a 24,000 square foot “business accelerator” building, funded by the State of Oklahoma . The Joint Board named the building the Michael S. Morgan Business Accelerator Building , in recognition of Senator Morgan's long-standing and active support of OTRP.
Andrea Kelly, superintendent/CEO of Meridian Technology Center and current chair of the Joint Board of OTRP noted that “the plans for Venture II development, along with the construction of the Morgan Accelerator Building, signal a bright and busy future for the technology park.”
The Park is master-planned for 1 million square feet of lab and support space for high-tech companies, OSU research facilities, and supporting services. Tenant companies eventually are expected to employ more than 2,000 people in the Stillwater region. The park's physical design is based upon small clusters of buildings to facilitate interaction and collaboration. It has fully redundant telecommunications infrastructure, access to the National LambdaRail high-speed data network, and a package of other benefits available to park tenants.
For more information about OTRP or the Venture II development, contact Ron Kysiak at 800-630-4002, r-kysiak@ideapartnerships.com or Jana Smith at 405-744-5827, jana.smith@okstate.edu.
Architect's rendering of Venture II, planned for construction in the Oklahoma Technology and Research Park in Stillwater , Oklahoma . The 46,000 square foot multi-tenant office/lab building will house Oklahoma State University researchers and private sector collaborators.
