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Representatives of two counties and two cities converged Wednesday on a dusty field to symbolically break ground on Pellissippi Place.

More than 100 government officials were on hand to show confidence in this regional partnership to develop a technology park devoted to research.

They represented Blount County, Alcoa, Maryville -- and in a collaboration that makes this cooperation unique in the area -- Knox County.

The Blount County Economic Development Board is coordinating the project. Standing on the 450-acre tract at the intersection of Pellissippi Parkway (I-140) and Old Knoxville Highway (Tenn. 33), Blount Memorial Hospital Executive Director Joe Dawson, member and past chairman of the board, recalled the beginnings of the R&D park.

The year was 2001. The Economic Development Board was in a work session doing strategic visioning and long-range planning.

"We birthed the idea of a technology park, where we would use the assets of our community to attract technology businesses and industry and grow that in our community and do that regionally," Dawson said.

The governments came on board. Roger Hubbard, founder, president and CEO of Maryville-based Molecular Pathology Laboratory Network Inc., committed his company to being the first anchor tenant.

Pellissippi Place, located in East Tennessee's Innovation Valley on the Oak Ridge Corridor, is not a single-use project. The park plan includes a festive retail corridor with restaurants and shops settled along a river walk. Mixed-use space will be available for residential and professional office linked by an expansive pedestrian walkway.

The business and research component of Pellissippi Place is projected to open in 2010. Subsequent development phases have the capacity to handle up to 100 merchants, six restaurants and a 14-screen cinema among more than 1 million square feet of retail space.

The project design includes space for a hotel. Residential plans call for construction of upscale loft condominiums. Design guidelines and building covenants will ensure the architectural integrity of the entire campus.

The development is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified, which requires all developers and contractors to follow sustainable green building guidelines recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Looking forward

"This is another sign of the future for the people in this area, and especially the future for the young people who will get really good jobs here and economic development," said U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. "This is just a landmark day for Blount County and Knox County."

Blount County Mayor Jerry Cunningham said the park is a planner's dream come true -- a place where people can shop, live and work on the same campus.

"The Jackson farm here has long been a beautiful place in Blount County, and I don't know a higher and better use that it could be put to than all of this vision coming to fruition with the groundbreaking and the start of such a wonderful thing," Cunningham said.

Alcoa Mayor Don Mull said the site, located in the city of Alcoa, was a natural choice, given the proximity of Pellissippi Parkway, McGhee Tyson Airport, the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge.

"Research is what it's all about -- and the kind of jobs it will bring into this area," Mull said.

Maryville Vice Mayor Tom Taylor said he was impressed that the project was set in motion years ago when energy was cheap and urban sprawl was the norm, but Pellissippi Place avoids both.

"Now we are talking about an energy crisis. We are talking about having to really conserve everything, and you look over here and it says these buildings are going to have LEED certification and everything is going to center around the environment and the quality of life," Taylor said.

"This is a project that was developed by far-sighted people."

Strength in unity

Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale said it was a mistake in the past for regional governments to be adversaries rather than partners.

Now, as governments cooperate, media outlets like Forbes, Expansion Magazine, CNN and others are saying this area is one of best places in the country to have a business, to have a career, to relocate an organization, for a young college graduate to start out, and is one of the most affordable places to live, he said.

"I'm convinced that in 20 years you'll look across this beautiful field, and it will still look really nice. But it will look nice with buildings that represent high-technology jobs, so that our children and grandchildren aren't running off to the Research Triangle or the Silicon Valley. But this is their Research Triangle, and this is their Silicon Valley, and this is where they're going to build a future in East Tennessee that we can really be proud of," Ragsdale said.

"I'm convinced, beyond any doubt, that there's no place in America that has the resources we have right here at this time."