The City of Aiken will transfer ownership of the Tom Young Center for Research and Innovation to Aiken Corporation later this month. A memorandum of understanding lays out the terms. The nonprofit will own and run the 38,000-square-foot building on Newberry Street.
Aiken City Manager Stuart Bedenbaugh revealed the transfer at a Rotary Club of Aiken meeting on June 1. The city and the nonprofit worked together to build this three-story structure. Each floor spans about 12,000 square feet. The Savannah River National Laboratory will occupy the second and third floors, while USC Aiken’s public engagement hub will operate on the first.
Construction money came from a $20 million piece of the state’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Energy. Bedenbaugh said, per the Aiken Standard, the project wrapped up “hundreds of thousands of dollars under budget.”…