It may take a while before bioscience incubator University Enterprise Laboratories is able to complete its 40,000-square-foot expansion.

UEL board member Paul Knapp said officials had hoped the state would fund half of the estimated $27 million project.

Due to the current budget environment, UEL may need to wait another year in order to gain support from the Legislature, Knapp said. UEL may raise the other half of the project through grants, donation and debt, he added.

The incubator's current 125,000-square-foot space is 97 percent occupied, UEL said.

"We are excited that the building is doing extremely well," Knapp said. "We just wish we had additional funding to serve the unmet need for wet lab space'' – a reference to the plumbing and ventilation needs of a working laboratory.