A proposed three-story business innovation center will dominate the landscape of the former Amoco refinery site in Casper because it will be taller than any other building on the 340-acre site.

But its height is necessary to save construction costs and won't affect the view of the mountain, its proponents said.

The Amoco Reuse Agreement Joint Powers Board, which oversees the development of the former refinery site, approved a height variance for the business innovation -- or incubator -- center at its monthly meeting on Wednesday.

The approximately 38,000-square-foot business incubator will be built next to and adjoin the old brick administration building at 2435 King Blvd.

The building will rise to 50 feet, plus five feet for the structure housing the heating and ventilation equipment.

The business incubator is a joint project of the Casper Area Economic Development Alliance, Casper College, the Economic Development Joint Powers Board, the Amoco Reuse Agreement Joint Powers Board, the city of Casper and Natrona County.

The partners intend to have the $10 million business incubator open with no debt, so the businesses that rent space will be paying for the services offered by the incubator and not the building's construction costs, CAEDA President Robert Barnes said Thursday.

They hope construction can begin in a year, but that's contingent on obtaining the funding, Barnes said.

In order to keep costs down, the business incubator must be built within a specific area to avoid major earthmoving, Barnes said.

"Making it lower and longer would cost more," he said. "We have a lot that constrains us. That's what necessitates going up instead of going out."

ARAJPB board member Mike Huston said Thursday that the site plan for the Platte River Commons limits the number of buildings, and probably no other building will be as tall as the business incubator.

"There's going to be a reluctance to go higher than three stories," Huston said.

Besides granting the height variance, the board on Wednesday agreed to request proposals for investing about $7.6 million of its $10.9 million remaining from the $20 million from BP for site development and operations.

Of the $10.9 million total, about $10.5 million is invested with the Wyoming Government Investment Fund and about $400,000 is invested in another state fund called WYOSIP, Huston said. WYOSIP is managed by First Interstate Bank, where Huston is the Casper market president.

The WGIF money is making about 2.14 percent interest, and that rate will continue to drop because the money is in short-term treasuries, he said.

Since the ARAJPB doesn't need most of that money immediately, it might be able to get a better rate of return if it could find a longer-term investment, Huston said.

However, the board won't know if reinvesting the money is feasible until it receives the proposals, he said.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.