The search is on for a new Lawrence office facility that will provide low-cost rent and other assistance to promising, high-tech, start-up companies, Lawrence Chamber of Commerce President Bill Sepic confirmed Tuesday.

Sepic said he and other board members of the Lawrence-based Kansas Innovation Corp. are actively seeking office space to create a new business incubator in Lawrence and hope to secure a site by early summer.

The incubator facility would provide either free or low-cost office space to technology-oriented firms as they are developing their business plans and building resources to fully enter the private sector.

“What we are trying to do with this facility is take new emerging companies and let them get their feet on the ground in a friendly environment,” Sepic said.

Sepic said he was looking at “several” sites and existing office buildings in the city, but he declined to identify any locations or the possible size of the new center.

“What we’re looking for is something that can be very flexible space,” Sepic said. “We certainly have a need for a building with wet lab space to support some of the emerging bio-tech companies, but we also have a need to support emerging information technology companies.

“How much we are able to support, though, will really depend on what the property allows us to do.”

Money also may be an issue. The group has approximately $500,000 that has been set aside for an incubator since the early 1990s. In the early ’90s, the city budgeted $250,000 to support an incubator facility, and the county gave $200,000 to the project. The money has been drawing interest in an account managed by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce. Sepic said he thinks the amount will be enough to secure a location for the incubator, but likely will not be enough to fully fund the operation of the center.

“I see it more as seed money,” Sepic said. “Today, $500,000 won’t buy you much, and we expect we’ll have to do some construction to make the building suit our needs.”

Sepic said the Kansas Innovation Corp. board hasn’t identified a clear plan for securing the additional funding. Instead, board members are waiting until they hire a new executive director for the organization, which could happen as early as next month.

The corporation, which is a partnership between the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. and Kansas University, has been without an executive director for about two months since Jeff Alholm resigned as the organization’s leader to take a position in the private sector.

KIC currently has offices in Lawrence at 1617 St. Andrews Drive but has a limited amount of space it can use to house emerging high-tech businesses.