North Carolina plans $94 million ag lab in Raleigh

RALEIGH -- The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services plans to build a $94 million laboratory complex off Edwards Mill Road that will allow it to close and consolidate four aging lab buildings in the city.

The Agricultural Sciences Center will combine labs that test food and drugs and motor fuels, that detect animal diseases and that calibrate scales and other measurement devices into one 200,000-square-foot building. The old labs are 43 years old on average and are outdated, said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

“These labs we have now are cramped,” Troxler said Thursday.

The money for the project will come from the Connect NC bonds that state voters approved in March. The building will take 18 months to design and won’t be completed until late 2020, Troxler said.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article99278337.html