The Holyoke innovation district has been designated the 20th growth district in the state and has been awarded up to $25 million from the state to move forward on the construction of Holyoke’s High Performance Computing Center (HPCC).

Combined with commitments from academic partners, the University Consortium, a total of $65 million in funding will be leveraged to move the project forward towards its groundbreaking this fall, Gov. Deval Patrick said during an address to the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce this afternoon.

The HPCC project will support long-term job growth and create a green, high-performance computing center in the city.

"These investments are critical to ensuring that the High Performance Computing Center will move forward to support job growth and advances in innovation, technology and research," said Patrick. "This groundbreaking project will serve as the anchor of a competitive and vibrant growth district in the Pioneer Valley."

The announcement delivers on the work first started by a collaboration between the Patrick-Murray administration, private partners EMC and Cisco, the city of Holyoke, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and the University Consortium comprised of MIT, the University of Massachusetts and Boston University. Northeastern University has also joined the consortium and pledged $40 million towards construction of the facility.

The project will also move forward with the release of an RFP for design and engineering services with an anticipated start date of early May, and the formation of a non-profit corporation to oversee operations in the HPCC.