The Port of Benton has received a $50,000 state grant to complete a master plan and feasibility study for the port's 72-acre Richland Industrial Center.

The center is part of the Tri-Cities Research District, a 1,600-acre section of north Richland that has been designated as one of 11 state Innovation Partnership Zones.

The district, which was formerly called the Tri-Cities Science and Technology Park, has been renamed and retooled. It also has a newly named board of directors to help guide development.

There are four major landowners in the park - the port, Washington State University Tri-Cities, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Solaris Corp., a privately owned development company that bought the Stevens Center Business Park earlier this year as well as other undeveloped property in the district.

The goal is to create a concentrated campus of biotech and technology companies and lay the foundation for a solid industrial base to create jobs and opportunities post-Hanford.

The state IPZ designation provides opportunities for grants to build infrastructure, community outreach and even training. Diahann Howard, the district's executive director and the port's economic development director, said the new grant from the Washington Community Economic Revitalization Board will be used to study the port's industrial center.

Issues to be considered include getting estimates of demolition costs, evaluating structures that exist and preparing a design that would coordinate with surrounding development and provide good pedestrian connections and roads.

The plan also would look at costs involved in transforming the Richland Industrial Center, a group of antiquated warehouse and storage facilities that for many years were called the Hanford 3000 Area, into an attractive office research park.

Howard said the port believes the property "can be one of the major future drivers of our community to replace Hanford jobs."

The port has invested about $1.5 million in the property to date. But it isn't the only one forking over money.

C. Mark Smith, a district board member, said private real estate investment in the district so far has topped $80 million. Another $128 million is being invested in new buildings, including Battelle's Toxicology Lab, the Washington Closure building, a Department of Ecology building and Washington State University's Bioproducts Sciences Engineering Laboratory. And there are additional plans for new labs for PNNL.

Howard said biotech and isotope-related businesses already have settled on the port's property, but increasing opportunities there should draw more interest.

Kathy Yuracko, CEO of YAHSGS, moved her 7-year-old software development company to the port property two years ago. She believes being part of the district will give her networking opportunities and help her find the talent needed to create and market her software products.

"One of the biggest challenges I face as a business owner is recruitment," Yuracko said. "And many times you find the best people by word of mouth."

She needs employees to help her fine-tune the company's software, which uses chemical formulas to predict toxicity, and to market it to pharmaceutical companies that can use it to reduce research and development costs.

Howard said the district also will be able to offer technical training in different areas, which could help Yuracko attract qualified applicants she can train.

"I really chose the bootstrap method to develop the company," Yuracko said.

Howard said the grant will help provide services that can give a boost to new companies like YAHSGS. "That's what the innovation zone is about - bringing in these types of companies and further developing the district to become a desired area for these types of businesses."