New Commercial, Academic Hub “The Refinery” at UA Tech Park at The Bridges Opens

TUCSON, ARIZONA – The long-anticipated University of Arizona Tech Park at The Bridges, located on Kino Parkway and Interstate 10, opened its first building known as The Refinery in late January.

The 65 acres designated as UA Tech Park at The Bridges is part of larger 350-acre multi-use development known as ‘The Bridges’ which includes residential and retail development in central Tucson, this location is prime real estate to establish your business and link directly to the assets of the University of Arizona. The site is located within an Opportunity Zone and long-term plans call for 1.2-million-square-feet of developed office and laboratory space that could support approximately 5,000 knowledge workers on-site, given the planned urban density.

The Refinery’s four-story, 120,000-square-feet of office space will be shared equally by UArizona programs and outside businesses wanting to work closely with the university. Constructed by the Boyer Company and will serve as an innovation and commercialization hub anchored by UArizona providing the ideal platform for technology advancements and business growth. Activities include the University of Arizona Applied Research Corporation (UAARC); the new offices for Tech Launch Arizona, the University’s technology commercialization arm; an incubator outpost, and programming through the University of Arizona Center for Innovation; plus innovation space for students and faculty.

The first university program moving into The Refinery is UArizona Applied Research Corporation. It is a separate 501(c)(3) organization that provides products, services and solutions to national security challenges in the U.S. government and industry. Moving into their new spaces in The Refinery in late March will be Tech Launch Arizona, the university’s tech transfer licensing office which moves inventions from university research and technological innovation into the marketplace, and Research, Innovation and Impact (RII), the office responsible for supporting more than $734 million in research activity at UArizona.

The Refinery will also house UA Online, the university’s online educational program, so that all of its staff and professors are headquartered in one location with a focus on growth.

A regional outpost for the UArizona Center for Innovation will open in The Refinery. UACI is an incubator network for science and technology startup companies both from inside and outside UArizona. UACI is headquartered at the UA Tech Park, Rita Road and Interstate 10, and has outposts across the region, including a bioscience incubator in Oro Valley.

UACI guides startups through a 27-point program that helps them refine their products and offerings, find success in their product launch and gain sustainability. The program has successfully assisted over 160 startups since its inception in 2003. There are currently a total of 58 startup companies in the program – the highest concentration of startups in any incubator program in Arizona, according to Carol Stewart, associate VP of Tech Parks Arizona.

Several businesses are waiting to get into the UACI program and the bioscience incubator, the latest place to open, is full. Opening the additional regional outpost at The Refinery will allow an additional eight to 12 startups into the program.

“President (Dr. Robert C.) Robbins’ vision for the UA Tech Park at The Bridges is for it to become the commercialization hub for the university, and many of the programs located in The Refinery create a continuum to achieve this vision,” said Stewart. “In addition to RII, a variety of other research organizations within the university work very closely with Tech Launch Arizona  (TLA) to determine which research projects have the potential to be viable in the marketplace.”

“Once a project is identified, the researchers or professors that created the intellectual property go through TLA’s process to prepare for commercialization. Once they have maximized TLA’s services and support, they decide their next step, which may be to formally apply for the UA Center for Innovation’s incubator program. When the new venture has successfully graduated from the UACI program, they have the option to scale at the UA Tech Park and grow their business in Southern Arizona.”

When determining which programs would fill UArizona space at The Refinery, the planning team took into consideration Robbins’ vision, but also discerned how the university does business and how they could positively impact that.  Meeting rooms allow students, faculty and businesses to convene at The Refinery.

Half the space in The Refinery is reserved for UArizona programs, but the other half will house companies wanting to work closely with UArizona.

It was named “The Refinery” because of its proximity to the best and brightest that can be mined from UArizona, allowing companies who locate there to directly find talent from the university campus. It could also refer to the “refining” of research and technological innovations to bring them successfully to the marketplace.

A Marriott Springhill Suites also just broke ground at the corner of Tucson Marketplace Boulevard and Kino Parkway at the end of 2021. Managed by HSL Properties, the Marriott veered from the standard building design to align with the design guidelines of the UA Tech Park to reflect the high tech, modern look of other nearby buildings.