The governor joined Lt. Gov. Steve Henry, Lexington Mayor Pam Miller, state Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, and UK President Charles T. Wethington Jr. in groundbreaking ceremonies for a new $1.2 million laboratory building at Coldstream.

The new laboratory building and the funds for the property’s infrastructure improvements were included in the Governor’s Surplus Expenditure Plan for the fiscal year 1998-99 approved in the 1998 session of the Kentucky General Assembly. The new $1.2 million laboratory building will be a one-story structure containing 10,000 square feet of space. Ed Carter, UK vice president for management and budget, said the university is in negotiations with potential tenants that he hopes to announce soon.

"This check represents an investment in the successful economic future of many generations of Kentuckians to come as well as the success of high technology industries that are perhaps now just a dream in the creative minds of future entrepreneurs," the governor said.

"Also, it is reassuring to realize, as we look at development already occurring on this ideally located research campus, that we are well beyond the notion that ‘If we build it they will come,’" Patton said. "Several of them are already here."

In accepting the check from Patton, Wethington said, "Coldstream epitomizes the great economic strides that can be made in Kentucky when the state, a progressive city like Lexington and the state’s flagship university work together without regard to who should get the credit for the accomplishments."

"As you look around the Coldstream Research Campus, I think you will conclude that there is enough progress here in which we can all share the pride," Wethington added.

State Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, Lexington, a principal supporter of the governor’s plan to spend part of the state’s tax surplus on the Coldstream improvements, said, "Technology and knowledge are driving growth in the country and throughout the entire world. This research campus will ensure that central Kentuckians can participate in a high-tech, high-wage economy."

Coldstream consists of a total of 735 acres -- 510 acres suitable for development and 225 acres of open space for passive recreation. When UK began developing Coldstream, a long-time agricultural experiment farm, the city accepted 225 acres for green space and passive recreation use in exchange for its help in developing the Coldstream Campus infrastructure.

Yesterday, Lexington Mayor Pam Miller thanked Patton and state legislators who represent Fayette County for their support of Coldstream.

"For Lexington, Coldstream means high-paying jobs and an economy with a future," Miller said. "It’s important for all of us to recognize that the future is not tomorrow, next week or next year. It’s right now. Let’s continue to move this project ahead."

Miller said the city has long supported Coldstream through critical improvements and sewer work dating back to 1991. In addition, working with UK, the city is establishing a park on the property.

Other development now under way at Coldstream includes a new Kentucky Technology Inc. building just east of the new laboratory building and a new home for Parrott, Ely & Hunt (PEH) Engineering just across the street. KTI is intended to provide much needed laboratory space for new industries that are growing within UK’s Advanced Science and Technology Commercialization Center (ASTeCC) project. A new Embassy Suites Hotel is set to open this spring at the north end of Coldstream Research Campus.

The first tenant at Coldstream was the Hughes Display Co., now named Lexel, a high-technology manufacturing firm.