University of Virginia Foundation Opens New Facility in Research Park

March 10, 2009 — The University of Virginia Foundation will unveil the latest addition to its University of Virginia Research Park on U.S. 29 on March 18 at noon.

Northrup Grumman Corp. will occupy about 25,000 square feet of the 85,000-square-foot Town Center Three building, the third of six structures planned for the park's Town Center.

Sandy Fitz-Hugh, chairman of board of the U.Va. Foundation and former member of the U.Va. Board of Visitors; Leonard Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the University; and Barry Rhine, the senior vice president of Northrop Grumman, will speak at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Tim Rose, chief executive officer of the foundation, will make introductory remarks.

The ceremony will be followed by tours of the building and refreshments.

The new building will be the first in the park to be specifically designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design guidelines. Northrup Grumman, a tenant in the park since 2000, recently moved into the entire fourth floor.

When fully built, the 562-acre park, located 1.5 miles north the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, will have 3 million square feet of developed space, though at least 200 acres will remain undeveloped.

Eight completed buildings house 19 tenants, including MicroAire Surgical Instruments, Carlisle Industry's Motion Control, PRA International Inc., Southern Health, Battelle Memorial Institute, Biotage, Adenosine Therapeutics Group, Pinnacle Pharmaceuticals, Pragmatics, and researchers from U.Va.'s schools of Medicine and Engineering and Applied Science.

Many of the companies support the National Ground Intelligence Center and the Defense Intelligence Agency, which will be moving five divisions from Washington, D.C., to its Rivanna Station site in 2010 and 2011, bringing with them 800 jobs. Additional jobs will accompany other support industries when they come to the area.

The U.Va. Foundation develops research parks as part of its mission to support the University. The University of Virginia Research Park (formerly known as the North Fork Research Park) provides a collaborative venue for academic research and commercial technology. It supports a variety of businesses, from research and development to light manufacturing and knowledge-based commerce, as well as develops connections between U.Va. and private enterprise.

The School of Engineering's Applied Research Institute, which recently moved to the park, provides opportunities for faculty and students to assist government and industry research in homeland and cyber security, green technologies and health care.

For information, visit www.uvafoundation.com/researchparks/.






Media Contact