Once complete, the building will house SNC and UC Davis faculty and students. New research equipment will also be utilized by partners such as University of Nevada's Desert Research Institute as well as Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Ranslow said.
Mary Peterson, director of faculty for the college, explained the school already had the permits for the building when UC Davis jumped on board.
UC Davis' involvement with the project did not come easily. After 10 years of planning, controversy over whether to keep the facility on the California-side of the lake prompted UC Davis to join with SNC and attach itself to the three-story, 45,000-square-foot, $24 million facility in Incline.
Since 1975, scientists from UC Davis' Tahoe Research Group have worked in a crowded, unheated former fish hatchery near Tahoe City. While the university sought a place to put a new center near its existing home, Assemblyman Tim Leslie, R-Tahoe City, led the fight against a proposal to build on public park land intended to allow beach access to Lake Tahoe.
Indeed the school is seeking a "Platinum" Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the building. The certification is a voluntary national standard for building sustainable or "green" buildings.
