Construction began today on a $1.7 million business incubator facility to house Centre County's start-up businesses in technological fields.

The Centre County Industrial Development Corporation held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday at the site of the new Centre County Business and Technology Center, on University Drive past the Park Avenue extension.

CCIDC Interim Director Charles Mong said the corporation favors its new University incubator site because of its proximity to campus research facilities.

"(This incubator) provides ease of technology transfer," Mong said. "It brings ideas from classrooms and labs into mini-technology status to see whether they are really feasible to go out into the commercial environment."

The CCIDC is now seeking tenants to join the three now housed in its 531 Marylyn Avenue site, Mong said.

"We're anxious to begin interviews," Mong said. Potential tenants must be start-up businesses involved with research and development, high-technology or new technology fields, he said.

The incubator -- funded jointly by the Centre County Industrial Development Corporation, the University, the College Township Industrial Development Authority and the Ben Franklin Partnership -- will open in late September or early October, Mong said.

The new building will provide 10,000 square feet of space for new businesses, compared to 5,000 square feet in the current facility. The incubator, in a temporary location at 531 Marylyn Ave., moved from its former building at Matternville Elementary School last year because of increased State College Area School District enrollment.

Ben Franklin Partnership spokeswoman Molly Memmi said the facility ranks among the most successful of the state's 40 incubator sites despite its small size.

Memmi said 18 businesses have "graduated" from the Matternville site into the larger marketplace. A total of 166 firms had graduated statewide through February 1988, she said.

"The number of graduates (in Centre County) has been impressive," Memmi said. That track record at the original Matternville site played a part in the partnership's decision to fund the new facility.

Centre County Planning Commission member Robert Donaldson said the sharing of resources between the CCIDC and the University would maximize the resources of both organizations in providing incubator space. Both organizations need incubator space for research and development, he said.

"It's a natural marriage of community and University to combine their efforts in one place," Donaldson said.

Donaldson said he expects the CCIDC to look at larger facilities available at a later date when the University opens a research and development park. The proposed site for that facility is located near the Mt. Nittany Expressway and the Park Avenue Extension.

The site's 18 graduates have helped the county develop employment opportunities, Donaldson said. The incubator provides "kind of a beginning of something with strong beginnings to expand and grow countywide," he added.