Maj. Gen. Randal Castro, Commanding General, For Leonard Wood and the Maneuver Support Center, and Dr. Elson Floyd, University of Missouri president, are slated to lead a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4 p.m., today for the new building addition to the University of Missouri Technology Park.

The construction of the building began in September 2004, and is scheduled to be done in early June, measuring 18,000 square feet and costing about $2.2 million.

“The Technology Park is the result of a partnership between the state of Missouri and the University of Missouri System,” said Ron Selfors, Missouri Enterprise project director. “They both invested about $1.6 million each to develop the park,” he said, adding that the park is on land leased by the Army to the university.

Selfors said there is a great demand for office, classroom and laboratory space on Fort Leonard Wood that the Technology Park can provide.

“The new building doubles the amount of space available to (36,000 square feet),” Selfors said.

The Initial tenants of the new facility include Concurrent Technologies Corporation, 21st Century Systems, Army Terrain Visualization Center, Army Training and Doctrine Command Program Integration Office for Terrain Data, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

Selfors said about 25 percent of the building is still available for lease, and the park will have about 150 high-tech jobs once buildings one and two are filled.

With the new building comes added benefits and not just for Fort Leonard Wood but also for the surrounding communities.

“Fort Leonard Wood has no government-owned space available for new or expanding missions,” Selfors said. “The Technology Park provides a surge capability for the post so that new missions can be implemented here or existing missions can be expanded without waiting five years or more for the military construction program to provide the space. Surrounding communities benefit since employees in the Technology Park must live and shop in these communities.”

Supporting businesses may also locate directly in the surrounding communities, he said.

“This new facility will link even more local and national companies with Army decision makers to help them better serve military needs,” said Rick Finholt, University of Missouri Office of Economic Development and Research Parks executive director.

“The park is a boost to the entire region because it encourages technology transfer from the University of Missouri and provides job opportunities for students, alumni, local residents and military spouses,” Finholt said. “This new building is part of our ongoing expansion of the park.”

The second building is just one of more coming in the future.

Selfors said the future buildings are now under design. The Technology Park will continue to grow to meet the needs of government, corporate and academic organizations that support the mission of the Department of Defense at FLW.