Profitable Ripple Effect Projected for Berkeley Lab’s Second Campus in Richmond

Richmond’s selection as the site of a second campus for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will not only bring in millions of dollars to a struggling city, but it may signal its shift into one of the most desirable business locations in the region.

When the University of California, Berkeley, finishes a two-million-square-foot complex at the 120-acre Richmond Field Station, on university-owned land at the edge of San Francisco Bay, it will house more than 800 scientists doing research in bioscience, cancer, bioenergy and on the human genome.

But that may be just the first step in developing an even larger research center, said Robert Birgeneau, Berkeley’s chancellor. Mr. Birgeneau envisions a vibrant second campus with ample room to bring together University of California researchers and scientists from around the world.

“We are quite landlocked in the city of Berkeley, so each time another national project comes along, we are challenged where to place it,” he said. “Now we have new possibilities. Instead of exporting jobs, we will be importing jobs,” he said.

Richmond, which has a 17 percent jobless rate and a tax base that has declined by double digits in recent years, considers the second lab potentially transformative. Residents will be in a position to get some of the construction jobs. Developers are expected to construct buildings to accommodate spinoff businesses.

“This is the biggest thing we’ve had in terms of economic development,” said Bill Lindsay, the city manager.

The laboratory announced last year that it had outgrown its headquarters at Berkeley and was looking to build a second campus to unify its facilities, which are scattered around the East Bay. They include the Joint BioEnergy Institute in Emeryville, the Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center in Oakland and the Berkeley West Biocenter.

Developers from eight cities gave 21 proposals, and the lab whittled those down to six final sites in May. Richmond beat out sites in Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville and Alameda for the campus, widely regarded as one of the juiciest economic plums of the last few decades.

An environmental review of the site will begin soon. Lab officials hope to move in by 2016.

Richmond’s eagerness for the campus apparently played a role in its selection, according to A. Paul Alivisatos, the lab’s director, who pointed to “an outstanding show of community support.”

More than 700 residents attended the lab’s information night. The city put up a billboard along Interstate 580 that flashed “Richmond ♥ LBNL.” It printed buttons and postcards and had more than 500 residents write personal notes to lab employees inviting them to the city.

While neighboring cities that vied for the lab were disappointed, there are no hard feelings, said Michael Caplan, the City of Berkeley’s manager of economic development.

“What the lab has actually done is highlight the East Bay’s special position, particularly in bioscience, research and development, and the broader pipeline that exists,” Mr. Caplan said. “We’re happy for Richmond and we think it will be good for the whole East Bay.”