FREDERICTON– A $37-million building is being constructed in Fredericton’s Knowledge Park that will house its recently announced Cybersecurity Centre of Innovation as well as cybersecurity companies looking to set up shop in the province.

The building, which will be known as Cyber Park, will be located on the north side of Knowledge Park Drive, about 500 metres from existing buildings. Opportunities New Brunswick CEO Stephen Lund says the building is the result of the momentum in the industry over the last several years in the province.

“What we’re doing now is announcing a culmination of a lot of momentum and a lot of hard work by a lot of people,” said Lund in an interview with Huddle. “We’re announcing today the building of a new Cyber Park to really cement our leadership in cybersecurity across the country. It’s an exciting announcement for all the players in the sector.”

The 135,000-square-foot building will have the infrastructure required to host the recently announce Centre Of Excellence and will include labs for cybersecurity innovation and commercialization. It will be comprised of two towers, each be four storeys high. The ground floor will contain the central core and common support area, and office spaces for lease on the upper floors.

Lund said they don’t have any official tenants they can announce yet.

“We have been working a lot of companies that are interested in the sector, and we’ve had ongoing negotiations. We’re at the point now that we’re very confident that we are going to fill this first building and we hope to go on to other buildings,” he said. “We wouldn’t be here today if weren’t confident in our discussions.”

The site will be constructed with the high level of security needed to support cybersecurity operations and critical infrastructure protection, says Tyson Johnson, the chief operating officer of CyberNB, the cybersecurity arm of Opportunities New Brunswick.

“Critical infrastructure protection has been our focus in the cybersecurity space,” said Johnson in an interview. “The groups coming in that we’re talking to, are all in the critical infrastructure space and have the mandate to help support and protect critical infrastructure. That’s why the building is built to this level of security and resiliency.”

Johnson said Cyber Park will be the first building of its kind in Canada.

“When it comes to industry, critical infrastructure protection and building purpose-built facilities for this and to be able to build a facility where companies can collaborate across sectors, this is the only one we’re aware of,” he said.

Site development work is expected to start in the coming weeks. Construction is expected to start this October, with people moving into the building in the late quarter of 2020. The building will be owned and operated by Knowledge Park, which owns five other building in the area.

In support of this $37-million project, Knowledge Park Inc. is eligible for a $30-million repayable loan from Opportunities NB. Lund said ONB has provided similar support to the Park’s other five buildings.

“Government has supported the growth of first five buildings and it’s a great success story as far as we’re concerned. That’s why we’re supporting this building. It’s the perfect timing, it’s the perfect opportunity and it cements out leadership in what we’re doing in cybersecurity,” said Lund.

“The is not a grant, this is a repayable loan. We will generate over $18 million in interest revenue over the course of this, plus we will fill the building with tenants that will all be paying taxes, so this is a pretty strong ROI.”