After 13 years, Clemson University’s ICAR campus is set to break ground on a new technology neighborhood this summer, according to David Clayton, assistant vice president of corporate partnerships and strategic initiatives at Clemson.
Plans for Neighborhood III, where the unnamed and unspecified facility will be, call for 500,000 square feet of space across 40 acres, “to look like an urban grid when looking at it from the sky,” according to ICAR’s website.
But in early February, Clayton didn’t offer any further details on the project at “Technology Neighborhood III,” which will be the second neighborhood to develop on the automotive research campus since its 2007 opening.
Clemson’s automotive research campus in Greenville opened the doors to its first neighborhood in 2007, Clayton said. In total, five neighborhoods are mapped out with rough sketches and plans online.
The news comes two years after plans for an unnamed corporation to build $45 million build headquarters in Neighborhood IV and bring about 100 jobs to the county petered out.
As of February 2020, a “For Sale” sign still stands at the entrance to Neighborhood IV and Clayton had no updates to offer on the deal.
What’s taking so long
Visible from I-85 near Laurens Road, only one of five “technology neighborhoods” is built out with research facilities for Clemson University’s graduate school, BMW, North American headquarters for manufacturer JTEKT and three office buildings housing private companies.
Sprawling out from the interstate along the wooded Millenium Blvd., ICAR has enough land to develop 3 million sq. feet, according to associate vice president of corporate partnerships and strategic initiatives Jack Ellenberg.
“I believe this is the most valuable real estate on 85,” Ellenberg said.
The value of the 250 acres of land at ICAR is one of the reasons the university has been slow to develop the remaining neighborhoods since opening, Ellenberg said.
ICAR has 23 corporate partners, with 70% of the graduate school’s research industry-sponsored, he said.
Originally envisioned as an automotive research facility, ICAR is widening its research focus to plan for the future of transportation by investing in alternative energy like electric cars of self-driving vehicles.
“The automotive industry has evolved, so we have evolved as a center,” Clayton said.
Zoe covers Clemson for The Greenville News and Independent Mail. Reach her at [email protected] or Twitter @zoenicholson_
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