UM-St. Louis to launch $5 million tech center/business incubator

BYLINE: Rick Desloge

The University of Missouri-St. Louis expects to close this month on a building that will house its $5 million high-tech information center.

The university has an agreement to buy the building at 4633 World Parkway Circle from DeMatteo Management Co. The 56,300-square-foot building is near Interstate 70, about two miles from the north St. Louis County campus.

UMSL is tentatively calling the new facility the IT/Accelerator & High Performance Computer Center. It will specialize in technology hardware and software development, and it will cater to businesses with its high-end computer capabilities, according to Nasser Arshadi, vice provost for research.

UMSL started planning for the center two years ago, and it initially intended to build a new structure at the location near its campus where pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts is moving. UMSL Chancellor Thomas George said the university decided to purchase an existing building instead.

The school has retained two grants it received early in the planning: $1 million from the U.S. Small Business Administration and $530,000 from Ameren.

Arshadi and George declined to disclose the purchase price. St. Louis County real estate records show an appraised property value of $2.5 million.

The center is expected to have a staff of 10 people from the university's technology operations and house about a dozen early-stage businesses, particularly those with needs for computer speed and access to the network and technology UMSL plans to locate at the center.

The technology focus will separate the UMSL operation from other high-end business incubators in the St. Louis area -- primarily the Center for Emerging Technologies (CET) in St. Louis and the Nidus Center in Creve Coeur, which primarily focus on life science businesses.

Arshadi said the new center will serve both academic and industry researchers.