SACRAMENTO BEE: UC DAVIS’ LONG-AWAITED AGGIE SQUARE IN SACRAMENTO EXPECTED TO OPEN IN SPRING. SEE INSIDE

In early May, officials from UC Davis plan to cut the ribbon on the first phase of Aggie Square — a $1.15 billion innovation district along Stockton Boulevard — bringing one of Sacramento’s most anticipated development projects to fruition.

The site, which was first publicly contemplated in 2017, is envisioned as a research hub for the region’s brightest scientific minds and an accelerator for startups spawned out of their work. Steps away from the university’s hospital and medical school facilities, the new buildings will house labs, classrooms, offices and meeting areas, plus coworking spaces and eventually a cafeteria.

But as officials offered an update at the site Thursday, anxieties about the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to National Institutes of Health funding loomed large, promising a more uncertain research environment than when the project was first imagined. Chancellor Gary May said the administration’s proposed NIH funding cap — which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge — would have reduced UC Davis’ research funding by about $70 million if it was in effect this year.

The partnership between research institutions and the federal government, May said, “has never been more valuable, nor more at risk.”

Rep. Doris Matsui said halts to ongoing research would be “devastating.” But, she added, some Republican lawmakers are also beginning to raise alarm about funding cuts in their states.

“I really feel that people are beginning to understand,” Matsui said in an interview after the news conference. “You don’t just clear the board.”

Aggie Square opens up other revenue opportunities for UC Davis, May said, including equity stakes in startups launched by its researchers and partnerships with private companies that will rent space in the district.

And as a whole, Aggie Square’s backers view the new district as an economic boon for the region.

“We’ve been trying for decades to further boost our economy outside of the state workforce,” said Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty. “This research university has been a big piece of the puzzle.”

The city established an infrastructure financing district for the project, essentially investing the future increases in the site’s property taxes to pay for up to $30 million of its infrastructure.

The first two buildings — 200 and 300 Aggie Square — will open in early May.

The buildings, which are connected, house an event space with “a TEDx feel” that can host 150 people, said Claire Drummond, vice president of development and Sacramento market executive for Wexford Science and Technology, the project’s developer.

The elevators were decorated with magnified images from UC Davis research, and six murals are planned for the building’s interior and exterior. Labs are available for half-year leases, a short-term commitment intended to meet the needs of emerging companies.

Nearby, an apartment building and a site for veterinary genetics research remain under construction. The cadence of the next phases will depend on the existing buildings’ occupancy and the demand from university and private sector tenants.

The Greater Sacramento Economic Council, the area’s main business attraction group, has already begun shopping Aggie Square as a site for overseas companies, said executive vice president Troels Adrian. And UC Davis released projections, Thursday, estimating that the project will support 3,200 jobs annually when the final phases are complete, and generate $1.9 billion in economic impact in the region.

“This is what we’ve been dreaming of and hoping for, for decades,” McCarty said.