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Ken and Esther Minter tour the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University. Mr. Minter is a retired biology professor from the university and was impressed with the new facility. ‘They (students) can go into the future,’ he said.

MARYVILLE, Mo. — Years of patient waiting came to a ceremonial close Wednesday, as Northwest Missouri State University celebrated the opening of a new science building.

The groundbreaking four years ago was attended by former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, former university president Dr. Dean Hubbard, the late university president Dr. Robert Foster and the leader of a former star tenant of the incubator, Scott Deeter, CEO of Ventria Bioscience. They smiled and turned dirt with golden shovels.

Ventria, the controversial company that produces a human protein in rice, jumped ship as funding to complete the structure never came. The funding delays changed the focus from a plant-based industry to a broader perspective. As the focus changed, so did the name of the building — from the Center for Excellence in Plant Biologics to the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Thanks to the sale of Missouri’s student loan authority, Northwest’s partially completed building is now practically complete. Faculty are still unpacking boxes in the academic wing of the 46,000-square-foot building, and three tenants are getting acquainted with their wing to the west. Construction was still under way on the west entrance to the facility Wednesday.

Gov. Jay Nixon joined Northwest’s new president, Dr. John Jasinski, to dedicate the center Wednesday. A representative from Carbolytic Materials Co., the first tenant to sign on to occupy space in the building and stick to it, also joined in celebrating the completion of the $24 million building, which includes $3 million in advanced lab equipment.

The mixed-use facility matches academics and entrepreneurship. The tenants, which also include Practical Sustainability and Riley and Rabel Consulting Services, will have skilled workers in the form of students in the adjoining wing. Gov. Nixon said the purpose of the building, which is to fuse cutting-edge research and entrepreneurship in the same building, will help get the state out of its economic slump.

“This is exactly how we’re going to make the connection between higher education and the business sector to grow the business leaders of the future,” he said. “Two sides of a building communicating with each other ... to build the business leaders of tomorrow.”

Northwest’s Dr. Charles McAdams, dean of the college of arts and sciences, said the process from groundbreaking to where it is today has been an evolutionary process.

“When the state funding didn’t come as quickly as we had hoped, and when Ventria backed out,” Dr. McAdams said, “it allowed us to think about the facility much more broadly.”

The center features 10 faculty and staff offices, general classrooms, conference rooms, faculty and student research labs, tenant offices and training rooms, among other amenities.

Northwest’s newest science degree in nanoscience will also find a home in the center. On display Wednesday was a $500,000 device used in nanoscience study, which is the study of science at the atomic and molecular level.

Jimmy Myers can be reached at jimmym@npgco.com.