Slated to join Rendell at the 12:30 p.m. announcement were Mayor Charlie Smithgall and John Fry, president of Franklin & Marshall College, which is six blocks west of the empty printing plant.

F&M is expected to participate in Rendell's new plan.

To spur the creation of appealing high-tech jobs near or on campuses, Rendell planned to propose a package of incentives for businesses coming to those areas, which he would dub "Keystone Innovation Zones.''

Businesses opening in those zones would get financial incentives similar to those offered by the state's "Keystone Opportunity Zone'' program, launched by then-Gov. Tom Ridge in 1998.

The KOZ program designates certain areas as economically depressed, then rewards businesses which move into those areas by making those businesses exempt from state and local taxes for as long as 12 years.

However, details of the new KIZ areas -- the number statewide, their size, the specific tax benefits -- were not available by press time.

The Rendell initiative would create a partnership of government, the private sector and higher education.

Together, they would produce appealing jobs that would attract college graduates and prevent them from joining the state's so-called "brain drain'' -- the exodus of college graduates to other states.

Besides keeping college graduates in Pennsylvania, the Rendell initiative also would help revitalize aging urban areas with an influx of young professionals and an improved tax base, Rendell was expected to say.

Rendell said the new KIZ program, to be part of a broader economic stimulus plan that he'll unveil soon, would come at little cost to the state, because it would produce new jobs from a now non-existent economic sector.

The role of the colleges and universities in the KIZ program would be to train students for those high-tech jobs and arrange internships at the new companies coming to the KIZ areas.

Rendell was expected to say that he perceives colleges and universities as underutilized economic engines.

Those kinds of high-tech jobs were the type envisioned at the Lancaster Press building more than two years ago, when Emerald Asset Management announced plans to form a business "incubator'' there.

Emerald, which specializes in finding and investing in start-up, high-tech companies in Pennsylvania, said it was planning a $10 million overhaul of the former factory, where it would place firms it helped finance.

As discussed in late 2000, the start-up firms could bring 200 jobs to the building. Emerald would move its offices from 1703 Oregon Pike to the city building too, adding another 40 jobs to the site.

Emerald was seeking $4.9 million in state assistance to launch the project, according to New Era files. It was not known whether Rendell today would bring news of any state funding.

Emerald officials could not be reached for comment on their plan.

The 85,000-square-foot building, built in 1929, was home to Lancaster Press until 1992, when the firm moved to East Hempfield Townshop. The company now is named Cadmus.

Another firm, Cas-Mac Packaging, operated there from 1996 to 1998, but then folded, despite the support of $300,000 in city-backed loans. The city then took possession of the building.

Today's announcement comes nearly two months after F&M, Lancaster General Hospital and Smithgall disclosed another program to spark the northwest and north-central sections of the city.

The three founders established a corridor known as the James Street Improvement District, intending to bring jobs, reduce crime and increase home ownership, among other goals.

The corridor is bounded by Race Avenue on the west, Chestnut Street on the south, Lime Street on the east and Harrisburg Avenue//Liberty Street on the north -- an area that includes the old printing plant.

Fry, the F&M president, could not be reached for comment this morning on the governor's new program. Smithgall said he was unfamiliar with the program's details, but was excited that Rendell chose Lancaster to unveil it.

""I'm glad that the governor picked Lancaster to announce this idea. I can't wait to hear all the details, because retaining college grads is important for Lancaster and every other college town,'' said the mayor.