The University City Science Center is preparing for a massive expansion that will more than double its current size, and some say Penn could be among the beneficiaries.
The center, located along Market Street between 34th to 38th streets, plans to add five or six new buildings over the next seven to 10 years at a projected cost of $600 million. Construction will begin this summer, according to Shawn Marcell, the center's senior vice president.
The Science Center aims to assist the development of research projects throughout the Delaware Valley, said Penn Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli, who sits on the Science Center's board.
Fledgling life-science and technology companies can use the center to develop and grow, Marcell said.
Penn, as a major research university, is an incentive for companies to locate at the Science Center, he added.
And Marcell said he expects "only positive effects," like additional real-estate opportunities, for the University.
The expansion is being driven by high demand for Science Center space. Marcell said that the Science Center currently leases 96 percent of its property to the research companies it supports.
Carnaroli, however, said that in the past the Science Center has struggled to use its property efficiently, adding that it has occasionally served as temporary space for the University, which rented Science Center space to house some departments during recent work on Fisher-Bennett Hall.
The University is still a tenant in some Science Center buildings.
Marcell said the first phase of the expansion is expected to be completed by the end of 2007. It will add labs, office space, parking and ground-level retail at 3711 Market St.
Science Center officials have yet to announce a developer for the expansion project.
Penn, along with other area universities, helped to establish the center in the 1960s, and the University has since remained involved in its operations.
Marcell said that Penn is one of about 30 universities that hold shares in the center, adding that Penn "is a very significant part" of the center.
John Zawad, managing director of Penn's Center for Technology Transfer, which helps Penn patent and market professors' works, said he expects the expansion will "be beneficial for economic development of the University City area."
He added that the newly expanded Science Center could bring job opportunities to the community.
"Penn is a supplier of potential technologies" that the Science Center could help develop, he said.
