Richmond’s selection as the site of a second campus for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will not only bring in millions of dollars to a struggling city, but it may signal its shift into one of the most desirable business locations in the region.

When the University of California, Berkeley, finishes a two-million-square-foot complex at the 120-acre Richmond Field Station, on university-owned land at the edge of San Francisco Bay, it will house more than 800 scientists doing research in bioscience, cancer, bioenergy and on the human genome.

But that may be just the first step in developing an even larger research center, said Robert Birgeneau, Berkeley’s chancellor. Mr. Birgeneau envisions a vibrant second campus with ample room to bring together University of California researchers and scientists from around the world.

“We are quite landlocked in the city of Berkeley, so each time another national project comes along, we are challenged where to place it,” he said. “Now we have new possibilities. Instead of exporting jobs, we will be importing jobs,” he said.