HUNTINGTON -- Ian Towler moved to Huntington in 2000 and didn't plan on staying long.
The 2002 graduate of Marshall didn't see much opportunity in Huntington working with DNA and thought he would leave by May 2006 when his wife graduated Marshall Medical School.
Towler, 27, has postponed any plans on leaving the Tri-State after he landed a job this month with the local upstart biotech firm Vandalia Research LLC.
"We had every intention of leaving Huntington," Towler said. "Now we have an opportunity to stay."
Area leaders say they plan to soon turn a vacant lot atop a hillside in KineticPark between 16th Street Road and Interstate 64 into a high-tech job producer that will keep more 20-something Marshall graduates in town.
Construction began four years on the publicly-funded KineticPark project, as a way to spark high-tech development in the area. The plan to develop the lower level as a commercial center got under way this year with the opening of a Bob Evans Restaurant.
But the technology development on the upper level of the $18 million site has been a slower process, and the first step is likely to be a business incubator.
The Huntington Area Development Council plans to build the $7 million Velocity Center, and the group is negotiating with Kinetic Park owner, the Huntington Municipal Development Authority, on a variety of legal issues including sale or lease price for the land.
The two entities are close to reaching a deal and could break ground by the end of the year, said Jerry McDonald, executive director for the Huntington Area Development Council.
Construction on the three-story, 60,000-square-foot building will likely take 14 months after the start of construction, he said. The building will provide space geared toward technology companies, likely start-up companies that would benefit from the office and manufacturing space that the incubator could provide.
Though the building can house an out-of-town company, local businesses and entrepreneurs would likely fill most of the building, McDonald said.
"I think it would weigh heavier on homegrown business," McDonald said. "I think the notion of a high-tech company driving on I-64 and seeing the sight is not that likely. The better likelihood is taking a homegrown or existing company that wants to grow."
Hopes in the business and education community run high for Velocity Center.
With the advent of the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Center at Marshall University slated in 2006, business leaders say they expect Marshall University to spin off innovations and use the Velocity Center to turn the ideas commercial.
Providing students, professors or businesses with office and lab space to build their companies have translated to thousands of jobs in areas such as Athens, Ohio, and Montgomery County, Md., which both have technology incubators.
Derek Gregg hopes to see more biotechnology companies open shop around his biotech firm. Gregg, fellow Marshall student Justin Swick and two Marshall University professors founded Vandalia Research in 2004 and rapidly produce synthetic DNA for applications such as forensics and medical diagnostics.
Vandalia is the first biotechnology company birthed by Marshall so far, but Gregg hopes more will follow. Biotech companies benefit from operating in close proximity with other biotech firms, Gregg said.
As the company prepares for its first product launch in January, the company's management will seek more employees and interns. More biotech companies would mean a larger skilled work force.
"Many people don't know what we do or how we are doing it. They hear DNA manufacturing and that is discomforting," Gregg said. "I will likely have to shop outside the area for interns. For some positions, we need someone with experience. That experience may be available locally. We are not really sure where we are going to have to go for positions.
"If more biotech is started in the area, you are building a mass. You will have more people coming to Marshall to study biotech."
A thriving biotech incubator churning out high paying, high tech companies can create ripples throughout the local economy.
Even in its infancy, Vandalia Research buys supplies from many local companies, including aluminum from Arafab, Gregg said.
"It affects more than the people that work in biotech," Gregg said. "The economics of it will impact more than just one company. We buy supplies locally. We will hire local people. I imagine there are far reaching affects."
Area colleges and universities will need to work together to help students, researchers and professors develop their ideas into businesses, said Dr. Elizabeth Murray, associate professor of integrated science and technology at Marshall. Murray also teaches biotech courses at Marshall and oversees many of the biotech efforts.
In addition to the office space Velocity Center would provide, the area needs a strong focus on teaching people how to start a business, Murray said. Workshops on how to commercialize technology and university sponsored business plan competitions would get people thinking about founding businesses and creating employment, she said.
"The students are active players in wanting to commercialize this technology," Murray said. "I am approached by students all the time who want an opportunity like this. The advantage of Velocity Center, it gives us a nucleus to bring ideas together and pull people in."
