More than 680 acres of land. High-rise buildings with laboratories. Engineering and computer facilities.

You won't find this anywhere else in West Virginia.

"There are $200 million in facilities up here we can take advantage of," said Pauley, president and CEO of Mid-Atlantic Technology Research and Innovation Center, one of the tech park's largest tenants. "The facilities are here, and the right people are here. We just have to figure out a way to make it happen."

Dow Chemical Co., which owns the tech park, has been shopping the buildings and land, but no one has stepped forward to buy the property. Meantime, Dow has started to demolish some of the facilities. Building 701 and 720 have gone down during the past two years.

The chemical company is expected to pull the last of its employees out of the park by the end of the year.

If a buyer isn't found soon, Pauley and others fear the worst: More than 800,000 square feet of building space could be lost.

"To see this slip out of our hands, and maybe get torn down when it's right here would be very unfortunate," said Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of the Chemical Alliance Zone, which promotes the chemical industry and has an office at the technology park. "You don't come by these lab facilities every day. That's why we're trying to save it."

Union Carbide opened the tech center in 1949. At one time, as many as 3,500 chemists, technicians, researchers and engineers worked on the property. Over the years, they developed more than 30,000 patents that led to products - with a total value of $18 billion - distributed throughout the world. The chemical company also was quick to commercialize its discoveries.

"It was arguably the top research and development facility in the chemical industry, and a lot of the brainpower is still here," DiGregorio said.

Dow has moved much of its research and development operations elsewhere. The company no longer wants to be a landlord, rather a tenant.

"Dow is essentially trying to give the buildings away," Pauley said.

In fact, the company tried to donate 68 acres at the technology park to West Virginia University last year, but university officials declined the offer, citing environmental liability concerns.

When Keith Pauley stares out of his fourth-floor office window at Building 740 at the South Charleston Technology Park, he sees opportunity.

More than 680 acres of land. High-rise buildings with laboratories. Engineering and computer facilities.

You won't find this anywhere else in West Virginia.

"There are $200 million in facilities up here we can take advantage of," said Pauley, president and CEO of Mid-Atlantic Technology Research and Innovation Center, one of the tech park's largest tenants. "The facilities are here, and the right people are here. We just have to figure out a way to make it happen."

Dow Chemical Co., which owns the tech park, has been shopping the buildings and land, but no one has stepped forward to buy the property. Meantime, Dow has started to demolish some of the facilities. Building 701 and 720 have gone down during the past two years.

The chemical company is expected to pull the last of its employees out of the park by the end of the year.

If a buyer isn't found soon, Pauley and others fear the worst: More than 800,000 square feet of building space could be lost.

"To see this slip out of our hands, and maybe get torn down when it's right here would be very unfortunate," said Kevin DiGregorio, executive director of the Chemical Alliance Zone, which promotes the chemical industry and has an office at the technology park. "You don't come by these lab facilities every day. That's why we're trying to save it."

Union Carbide opened the tech center in 1949. At one time, as many as 3,500 chemists, technicians, researchers and engineers worked on the property. Over the years, they developed more than 30,000 patents that led to products - with a total value of $18 billion - distributed throughout the world. The chemical company also was quick to commercialize its discoveries.

"It was arguably the top research and development facility in the chemical industry, and a lot of the brainpower is still here," DiGregorio said.

Dow has moved much of its research and development operations elsewhere. The company no longer wants to be a landlord, rather a tenant.

"Dow is essentially trying to give the buildings away," Pauley said.

In fact, the company tried to donate 68 acres at the technology park to West Virginia University last year, but university officials declined the offer, citing environmental liability concerns.

Pauley and DiGregorio say those concerns were unwarranted, that the 680-acre site is "environmentally clean," for the most part.

The land also is relatively level by West Virginia standards. It's located just off Interstate 64 in South Charleston.

"The one thing is West Virginia doesn't have flat land like this," Pauley said. "This is real valuable flat land. Is there a better piece of property in the Kanawha Valley? Probably not."

Pauley's company, MATRIC, has about 150 employees. They've developed biodiesel and polymer products, packaging material made from natural corn, a rail car de-icer that prevents coal from sticking, bullet-proof plastics and a host of other materials.

MATRIC also has spawned nine for-profit businesses. The group was formed in the wake of Dow's downsizing. MATRIC's staff includes 33 Ph.D.-level researchers and 19 professional engineers - many of whom formerly worked for Dow and Union Carbide.

"There's a lot of intellectual capital left in the valley," said Jon Pauley, MATRIC's project director. "This is an ideal place for technology development. It's like Research Triangle Park in North Carolina where they've been doing it for 50 years."

The technology park's campus includes more than 200 research and development labs, chemical pilot testing plants, a polyethylene plant, operations center, and engineering and computer buildings.

DiGregorio said the park would be the ideal place to demonstrate new energy- and environment-related discoveries on a larger scale.  

"It would be a place where we demonstrate and be the next step to commercialization," DiGregorio said. "It would be the step between research and development and selling it on the market. Companies need a place where they could commercialize their research."

If successful, DiGregorio and others predict the revitalized tech park could create thousands of high-paying jobs.

"The goal is to get the facilities turned over, and for someone to take ownership of the property, then put a plan together," he said.

That "someone" could turn out to be several entities. Tech park supporters envision collaboration between universities, the state and federal government, and private industry.

They've been talking with local, state and federal officials. But so far, nobody has developed a concrete plan to save the tech center.

"If something's going to happen in a good light, it needs to happen soon," DiGregorio said. "This is probably one of the biggest economic development opportunities we've had in the state in a long time."

Pauley and DiGregorio say those concerns were unwarranted, that the 680-acre site is "environmentally clean," for the most part.

The land also is relatively level by West Virginia standards. It's located just off Interstate 64 in South Charleston.

"The one thing is West Virginia doesn't have flat land like this," Pauley said. "This is real valuable flat land. Is there a better piece of property in the Kanawha Valley? Probably not."

Pauley's company, MATRIC, has about 150 employees. They've developed biodiesel and polymer products, packaging material made from natural corn, a rail car de-icer that prevents coal from sticking, bullet-proof plastics and a host of other materials.

MATRIC also has spawned nine for-profit businesses. The group was formed in the wake of Dow's downsizing. MATRIC's staff includes 33 Ph.D.-level researchers and 19 professional engineers - many of whom formerly worked for Dow and Union Carbide.

"There's a lot of intellectual capital left in the valley," said Jon Pauley, MATRIC's project director. "This is an ideal place for technology development. It's like Research Triangle Park in North Carolina where they've been doing it for 50 years."

The technology park's campus includes more than 200 research and development labs, chemical pilot testing plants, a polyethylene plant, operations center, and engineering and computer buildings.

DiGregorio said the park would be the ideal place to demonstrate new energy- and environment-related discoveries on a larger scale.  

"It would be a place where we demonstrate and be the next step to commercialization," DiGregorio said. "It would be the step between research and development and selling it on the market. Companies need a place where they could commercialize their research."

If successful, DiGregorio and others predict the revitalized tech park could create thousands of high-paying jobs.

"The goal is to get the facilities turned over, and for someone to take ownership of the property, then put a plan together," he said.

That "someone" could turn out to be several entities. Tech park supporters envision collaboration between universities, the state and federal government, and private industry.

They've been talking with local, state and federal officials. But so far, nobody has developed a concrete plan to save the tech center.

"If something's going to happen in a good light, it needs to happen soon," DiGregorio said. "This is probably one of the biggest economic development opportunities we've had in the state in a long time."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com">erice...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.