Ready for liftoff Ready for liftoff (January 21, 2005)

NASA Ames to break ground on research facility

By Julie O'Shea

The NASA Ames Research Park -- the federal space agency's $980-million vision for 300 acres of Moffett Field -- has been in the works since 1998. And now, after seven years of planning and fundraising, officials said they are finally ready to break ground on the project.

Later this month, NASA will review the proposals of five developers eager to oversee construction of the research park's first new building: a 250,000-square-foot conference and education center that will boast large rooms for events and training seminars. The facility will also provide overnight accommodations.

Construction on the building is slated to start later this year, and the center is scheduled to be finished by spring 2006, said Mejghan Haider, a division chief at NASA Ames.

The construction timeline for the multimillion-dollar research park is 10 years. If all goes as planned, the park, a hub for education and development, will be completely finished by 2014.

"A lot of it will depend on the economy," Haider said.

In total, the park will consist of 4.2 million square feet of classrooms, office space, and research and development facilities. About 7,000 new employees, in addition to the 4,500 people currently working at the Moffett Field site, are expected to work at the new research park.

"The point is to establish a world-class R-and-D (research and development) and education community," said Michael Marlaire, director of external relations and development at NASA Ames.

The project's $980 million cost is being covered by various education and industrial partners interested in building on the land.

"If you want to build here, you are going to spend your own money," Marlaire said.

Education partners include UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State University, Carnegie Mellon West and the Foothill-De Anza Community College District.

UC Santa Cruz is interested in using 600,000 square feet for offices, labs and classrooms, to be known collectively as the UC Silicon Valley Center. It also wants to use another 500,000 square feet to build student and faculty housing. The university will be responsible for footing the construction bill for this project.

Likewise, San Jose State University intends to build 350,000 square feet of offices, labs, classrooms and housing for its Metropolitan Technology Center.

Most of the partnering universities already have set up shop at Moffett Field, occupying space in one of NASA Ames' historic buildings.

Haider said she considers rental of these buildings to be the "first phase" of the research park project.

However, the money NASA receives in rent for these buildings won't go toward the research park's construction costs, Haider said. Instead, the money will be used toward the upkeep of the buildings.

"They would be deteriorating otherwise," she added.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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