Space Research Association Picks New Place in Howard County

Houston? Florida? No, the location for one of the leading space research associations will be Howard County for the foreseeable future.

The Universities Space Research Association, a non-profit that conducts research for the U.S. space program has acquired a 90,000 square foot building in the Columbia Gateway business park, according to the Howard County Economic Development Authority.

The organization paid $12.5 million for the building, according to the Baltimore Sun.

USRA will use the new location as its national headquarters. The nonprofit employs 500 people across the country, many of them PhDs, who research astronomy, earth science, space biomedicine space technology and computer science.

The research association had outgrown its previous headquarters office in Town Center and were looking at locations in Houston and other cities in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, but decided to stay in Columbia, said HCEDA in a statement. The association has been in the city since 1976.

"Columbia Gateway in Howard County is the ideal location for our new national headquarters," said Fred Tarantino, USRA President, in a statement. "Close by are Federal laboratories and other premier institutions, and the quality of life Howard County offers our employees was of the utmost importance in our decision."

"Any state would have been fortunate to land USRA," said Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, in a statement, "but the fact that they chose to remain in Howard County shows that we have an environment conducive to growth."

USRA plans to move into Columbia Gateway facility in late November, according to the Howard County Economic Development Authority, which assisted the association in finding a new headquarters.