[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/MIP09.jpg”]After four years of demolition, redevelopment, renovation, and marketing for tenants, McMaster Innovation Park will celebrate the completion of its first building with a public Open House.

The 180,000 square-foot facility at 175 Longwood Road South, near Highway 403, will host a day of guided tours, historical reviews and plans, tenant displays, and a celebratory cake cutting. Thirty local artists will display more than 100 works of art in MIP's atrium.

Doors open today at 7:30 a.m., and will remain open until 3:00 p.m. At 12:30 p.m. Zach Douglas, president of the Park, will cut the cake and talk about the next phase of development.

“We are excited about reaching this milestone at the Innovation Park,” says Mo Elbestawi, vice-president, Research & International Affairs. “The open house is our way to thank the public for its patience as we develop the site, and to encourage the residents of Hamilton to be champions of what will be a centre for true innovation and ultimately job creation, not just in Hamilton but in southern Ontario.”

The McMaster Innovation Park has remained cognizant of the site's tradition as a centre of innovation and manufacturing since 1913. The conference facility, currently under construction, will eventually house a historical retrospective of the site and of Westinghouse's success in Hamilton.