G.J. McCarthy photo

From left, U.S. Sen. Kit Bond and Jim Talent, U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, Curator Tom Atkins, MU Chancellor Brady Deaton and Fourth Ward Councilman Jim Loveless wait to start a news conference yesterday at the Discovery Ridge site.

Top government and University of Missouri officials crowded under a tent near Highway 63 south of Columbia yesterday to welcome the first tenant of the new Discovery Ridge Research Park.

Analytical Bio-Chemistry Laboratories Inc. plans to locate its new $15 million corporate headquarters and pharmaceutical labs at the research park. Officials hope the park at the university’s South Farm complex will become the home of other high-tech firms that produce good-paying jobs. ABC Labs is expected to add as many as 300 new employees there.

"Projects such as Discovery Ridge highlight the importance of creating critical mass," UM system President Elson Floyd said. "Companies like to cluster together, and university and government can provide the environment in which companies can thrive and gain from mutually beneficial opportunities. We welcome them not only as the park’s inaugural tenant, but as the sign of great things to come."

Gov. Matt Blunt, U.S. Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent and Rep. Kenny Hulshof - all Republicans - were on hand for the ceremony marking the inauguration of the research facility. UM officials thanked the federal lawmakers for helping deliver $4 million in highway funds for an interchange on Highway 63 to serve the research park.

"The reason why we worked to get and are working to continue funding of the Highway 63 interchange is because this would not be possible without it," Talent said.

UM Curator Tom Atkins of Columbia said that in years to come, the research park’s opening would be remembered as a significant event in the community history, "signaling an exciting new era of growth and opportunity."

"The businesses clustered here will certainly create jobs and stimulate the economy," Atkins said. "But more importantly, they will turn the scientific breakthroughs made by our faculty into products and processes that will improve all of our lives."