Inside INdiana Business is reporting that construction has begun on a five-story, 145,000-square-foot building designed to serve as the entryway to the $1.2 billion Purdue University Discovery Park District. The university says the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration will be a resource hub for technology commercialization and entrepreneurial activities.
The building will be located along State Street in West Lafayette and will include a large lobby and plaza spaces for engagement and business activity. It will also feature retail space on the first floor.
David Broecker, chief innovation and collaboration officer at the Purdue Research Foundation, says several global firms have already reserved space in the Convergence Center.
“The Convergence Center is going to be an extraordinary place where people connect and develop ideas and pursue solutions. It’s where researchers from different areas of study will break down academic silos and work together to find answers,” Broecker said. “It will lead to innovations about smart cars, smart homes and smart cities. It will become a hotbed for tech savvy companies that want to test new innovations in collaboration with those at a premier research university.”
The project is expected to be complete by December 2019.
The facility is the second large construction project to get underway recently in the Discovery Park District. Last month, officials broke ground on the 100,000-square-foot building that will serve as the home for SEL Purdue Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and support more than 300 jobs.