The $35 million Lobo Rainforest Building will provide high-tech research and development facilities for University of New Mexico programs as well as five floors of student housing. This will include the offices of STC.UNM, a nonprofit corporation formed and owned by the University of New Mexico Board of Regents that is currently located on UNM’s South Campus at the Science & Technology Park. The Cecchi VentureLab, an incubator for STC.UNM, and the UNM Innovation Academy, which supports student entrepreneurial training, will also take up residence in the new facility. These offices will be joined by Innovate New Mexico, a statewide technology commercialization program; an Air Force research lab; a credit union branch office; and a café. Floors two through six of the new facility will be reserved for 155 upper-level undergraduate and graduate student suites as well as a fitness area.

“We are planting the first ‘economic tree’ in our desert rainforest,” Robert Frank, president of the University of New Mexico, said in a statement. “This is the result of an idea — a seedling — that took root three and a half years ago, has been nurtured and cultivated by our partners, and will grow into a future harvest of innovation for our state.”

“The Lobo Rainforest Building is an extraordinary opportunity and a catalyst for our city, higher education and downtown,” said Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, who joined in the groundbreaking festivities, in a statement. “This project will help the revitalization of downtown Albuquerque by bringing UNM’s Innovation Academy and student housing to the InnovateABQ site.”

Lisa Kuuttila, CEO and chief economic development officer for STC.UNM, added in a statement issued by the university that working with the Innovation Academy will bring together students, entrepreneurs and researchers, while providing students in particular with “a nurturing environment to test their ideas and start companies.”

A master plan approved by the UNM Board of Regents shows the site could eventually house approximately 824,000 square feet of business and administrative spaces, student housing, research laboratories and possible commercials spaces such as a hotel or retail shops. Such proposed development for the InnovateABQ campus includes renovation of parts of an existing church building located on the site to provide space for offices, community gatherings and event space; parking structures; retail space; and pedestrian-friendly green space, according to a statement by the university.

While, full development of the site could take between 10 and 20 years, university officials anticipate completion of the Lobo Rainforest Building by August 2017.

The development’s project team includes Signet Development with offices in Akron, Ohio and Jacksonville, Fla.; Goodman Realty Group of Albuquerque; the Albuquerque office of Deker/Perich/Sabatini; and Perkins + Will of Atlanta.

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“Now that we have completed the building’s structure, we get to start on the intricate details that will make this innovative living-learning center a home for UF students,” said Chris Gregory, project manager at Brasfield & Gorrie, in a statement.

An entrepreneurial-based academic residence community, Infinity Hall is the result of a public-private partnership between the university and the Jacksonville office of Shanghai-based real estate development and construction management firm Signet Development. Through a services and affiliation agreement with the University of Florida, Signet Development will develop, finance, own and manage Infinity Hall, representing the first privatized development within the 40-acre community known as Innovation Square.

UF’s Innovation Square is an urban research district that brings business, science and academia together with residential life in an effort to foster innovation and strengthen the community’s economic and cultural viability. As Infinity Hall is geared specifically toward forward-thinking students, and with its close proximity to campus amenities and academic resources, both UF officials and Signet Development representatives hope it will serve as a birthplace for new ideas and innovations.

“Infinity Hall is the first private sector finance project to arise from the vision of the public-private partnership that defines Innovation Square,” said UF President Bernie Machen in a statement. "Infinity Hall is the first residence hall in Gainesville — and among only a handful in the nation — designed for young entrepreneurs who mean so much to our future as a community and as a country."

Different from other campus housing facilities, Infinity Hall will offer all the tools and resources necessary for students to begin their entrepreneurial journeys. The interdisciplinary living and learning center will serve as a connector between students’ academic coursework, internship experiences, professional and peer mentorship and experiential learning, creating an environment that supports academics as well as business incubation. It will also be the first residence hall that allows students to use university housing as the base of operations for a small business.

When completed, the five-story, $23 million Infinity Hall will house more than 300 UF students in eight single rooms, 16 single suites, 48 double suites and 20 quad-suite residences. Lounges, kitchens, laundry facilities and recreation rooms will also be included. In addition to these residential amenities, Infinity Hall will offer a number of collaboration spaces and teaching areas on the ground floor, as well as a 3-D printer, to promote idea generation and creativity.

Infinity Hall was designed by the Atlanta office of global architecture firm Perkins + Will. Work on the building began in October 2014, and the project is currently on track for a fall 2015 opening.

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