Construction begins on newest Nebraska Innovation Campus building

Construction on a new 80,000-square-foot, multi-tenant building at Nebraska Innovation Campus is underway.

Dan Duncan, NIC’s executive director, said the building continues the momentum of the long-term build-out plan for the research campus. The newest facility – NIC’s fifth – was announced Aug. 30 and is planned to open in late summer 2018 northeast of 21st Street and Transformation Drive.

Overall, construction of the campus began in 2012, and within three years, 380,000 square feet of office, conference center, lab, pilot plant and greenhouse space was completed. This year the campus has added restaurant space and welcomed The Mill Coffee and Bistro. The Biotech Connector wet lab research space also has been completed and is being populated. NIC is currently home to a diverse group of 30 partners, both private and public entities. At full build-out, NIC will be a 2.2-million square-foot campus.

“We’ve started construction on the next building at NIC because we’re almost out of space in the current completed constructed space,” Duncan said. “NIC is 100 percent leased with a few small areas available for sub-lease. Space in this new building is starting to fill up.”

The three-story structure will feature a planned business incubator and will contain common spaces built to spur collaboration. Area around the building will include a community garden and space for outdoor activities.

“The design is a modern take on office space,” said Josh Berger, director of operations for Tetrad Property Group, the project’s developer and owner. “The amenities we’ve included in the building reflect what we have learned about what the next generation of the workforce wants in their working environment.”

TPG has engaged a premier design team for construction of the new building. The Clark Enersen Partners is the architect of record. Civil engineering work is being completed by Olsson Associates and Hausmann Construction is the general contractor on the project.

Like the other buildings on campus, the new building will be to LEED Silver standards. It will also be connected to the Centralized Renewable Energy System, giving the building a low carbon footprint. The CRES leverages its proximity to the City of Lincoln’s Theresa Street Wastewater Treatment Plant to provide year-long heating and cooling to NIC without steam boilers and water chillers. Instead, the CRES sustainably warms and cools building by exchanging thermal energy from treated wastewater.

NIC is designed to facilitate new and in-depth partnerships between the university and private sector businesses. TPG provides a full range of development services for Nebraska Innovation Campus, including master planning, construction management, leasing and property management.