Motorists on Route 17 through Gloucester Point will notice that preparation has begun for a new research building on the campus of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

The three-story, 68,240-square-foot structure will provide a new home for faculty, staff and students from four academic departments at VIMS, which include Aquatic Health Sciences, Biological Sciences, Fisheries Science, and Physical Sciences. Funding for the $74 million building has been provided by the Commonwealth of Virginia and represents the culmination of a design process that began in 2016, a release said.

The heart of the building will be devoted to research laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation for analyzing environmental samples. Built in a modular fashion to allow for flexibility as research needs change, these labs will reflect current emphases on oyster health, fisheries genetics, aquatic diseases, harmful algal blooms, marine contaminants, microplastic pollution, microbiol...