Two organizations have moved into new facilities at the University of Missouri’s Missouri Research Park. Distribution Management Inc. and the Federal Aviation Administration’s Terminal Radar Approach Control bring the total number of businesses within the park, which caters to technology and research-based companies, to 16.

The FAA’s 41,000-square-foot TRACON building is home to about 100 employees, 59 of them air traffic controllers. While an airport tower directs landings and takeoffs, the controllers at TRACON manage airspace below 15,000 feet and help guide the planes into the actual flow of air traffic once they have left the ground.

This new facility replaces TRACON’s former home, which was located near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The new facility allows TRACON to add new technology that would have been difficult at its other building. The St. Louis area TRACON ranks 20th in the nation in number of flights handled yearly. This year, it is expected to direct more than 600,000 planes from airports within a 50-mile radius of St. Charles County.

The 50,000-square-foot DMI building is headquarters to approximately 100 employees. DMI specializes in the design and development of systems to deliver consumables and accessories for computers, fax machines, copiers and printers.

The Missouri Research Park is the first business park in the St. Louis region to market exclusively to technology-intensive and research-based companies and now has more than 1 million square feet under roof. The Missouri Research Park is a project of the University of Missouri Office of Economic and Research Parks, whose mission is to support Missouri’s economic growth by developing and sustaining research and technology alliances among the university, government agencies and private companies.