Shawnee ? This Kansas City suburb is seeking to create a bioscience district that would help scientists make marketable commercial products or medical treatments out of research innovations.

The proposed development corridor would include a laboratory complex for startup companies, as well as a mix of other office and retail buildings.

If the project is approved, Shawnee would be the first city in the state to seek the creation of a bioscience district using development incentives from the two-year-old Kansas Economic Growth Act.

The state economic development package allows for the district to use future property tax revenue to help pay for its development.

Other parts of Johnson County and parts of the Lawrence area have considered establishing bioscience districts, but officials have not submitted formal applications.

Shawnee officials submitted their proposal late last week to the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

“We were looking for areas of the economy expected to grow exponentially,” said Jim Martin, executive director of the Shawnee Economic Development Council.

Local officials are hopeful the package will be approved soon enough to allow construction to begin by next spring, Martin said.

The Economic Growth Act was designed to encourage local government, the state and private businesses to work together to establish ventures where scientific discoveries can be made into commercially viable products, said Clay Blair, chairman of the authority.

For the Shawnee project, Fish Development has formed an ownership group that would invest about $12.8 million in 65 acres to create a bioscience park, said Shannan Nelson, a co-owner of the commercial construction firm in Shawnee.

The ownership group, called Crown Partners LLC, also intends to spend $8 million to $9 million on a 30,000-square-foot laboratory and incubator complex where startup companies would have access to research and office facilities until their businesses grow.

The city of Shawnee would help with street, sewer and other infrastructure improvements for the project. The developers intend to seek additional financing assistance for construction of the incubator from the state bioscience authority, Nelson said.