CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — The University of Illinois Research Park is already one of Champaign County’s largest employers and is looking to expand.
The park is rezoning land around Fourth Street and Hazelwood Drive to help attract business owners.
“We want to be ready to meet future demands,” said Research Park Director Laura Appenzeller.
UIUC’s Research Park is seeking to rezone land on both sides of Fourth Street and Hazelwood Drive. This area is currently marked as a commercial area.
“Most of the growth in the research park is office space, and we’re seeing growth in new types of industries,” Appenzeller said.
As a new opportunity, the park wants to designate the land for industrial uses such as data centers and renewable energy.
“We want to make sure we have the right type of development for the future to not only appeal to businesses interested in joining the tech community here in Champaign-Urbana, but also to support entrepreneurs. I’m thinking about it.” Appenzell.
She said she was interested.
“And increasingly, the small and medium-sized businesses we work with are looking to scale their technology to get closer to manufacturing,” Appenzeller said.
The only problem is the uncertainty of whether these companies will be allowed to build the facilities they need to operate.
“This allows us to further serve flexible users who may be involved in these emerging technology areas,” Appenzeller said.
She believes this rezoning and subsequent projects will bring many benefits to the research park.
“These jobs not only pay well, but also support a large number of students and experiential learning opportunities,” Appenzeller said.
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