A partnership between Texas State University-San Marcos and the city of San Marcos has landed a $1.85 million award from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to build a new Science, Technology, and Advanced Research (STAR) building.
The university says the new building will be used as a location for start-up and early-stage businesses, and provide university and STAR tenants access to secure wet labs, clean rooms and office space. Green and bio-technology companies will be a major focus, and backers hope that San Marcos’ location between Austin and San Antonio will work to attract corporate research interest from those cities’ technology communities.
The STAR facilities plan to incorporate expertise from the McCoy College of Business Administration and the Materials Science, Engineering and Commercialization program at Texas State. Of the project’s overall $6 million cost, Texas State has already committed $5 million. The university’s share of the grant will go directly toward construction of wet lab and clean room facilities. The city’s share will finance infrastructure improvements to the 40-acre site.