IDEA Commons: Springfield's game-changer?

Michael Nietzel doesn't know exactly how IDEA Commons will reshape downtown Springfield in 10 years, but he's convinced the multidisciplinary urban campus is the city's best shot at hitching - and maybe just holding onto - young talent.

The Missouri State University president said he's inclined to agree with the philosophy of a university president colleague who predicted that the future has two types of universities: the quick and the dead. The IDEA Commons is the best strategy for keeping MSU from falling into the latter category, Nietzel said during last week's IDEA Exposition, a four-day celebration and education of the Springfield university's broad ideas for center city.

The concept seeks to meld creative forces driving innovation, design, entrepreneurship and the arts - hence the abbreviation IDEA - on 30 acres in center city, with Jordan Valley Innovation Center as the nucleus.

"The common ingredient ... here is creativity," Nietzel said. "Whether it's left-brain creativity from the science side or right-brain creativity from the artistic side, what we're interested in is taking creative talent and throwing it together in this neighborhood."

The vision is for a hotbed of creativity that evolves into an epicenter of economic development that exudes an attitude appealing to young professionals, Nietzel said.

Missouri ranked 37th in the 2008 State New Economy Index released by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation in November. A year earlier, the Show-Me State was No. 35 on the index, which ranks states based on 29 indicators in five areas: knowledge-based jobs, globalization, economic dynamism, technology innovation capacity and ability to transition to a digital economy.

"That is the sort of thing that you have to do if you want to move up," foundation President Rob Atkinson said of IDEA Commons. "I think it's exactly the right thing to do."

Common catalyst

IDEA Commons has an ally in the city of Springfield, which sold the rundown MFA mill complex on Boonville Avenue to MSU in 2004 for the development of JVIC. The city, which purchased the site for $100,000, sold the property to MSU for $1.

Three years and a $22 million renovation later, the 75,000-square-foot, 12-story facility opened its doors to a unique brand of innovation that allows corporate research partners to draw on university resources but retain ownership of their intellectual property. Today, JVIC's six senior affiliates - Brewer Science, Crosslink, St. John's Research Institute, Foster-Miller, Applied Systems Intelligence and Nantero, a division of Lockheed Martin - employ about 80 people whose average annual salaries are $60,000 apiece, Nietzel said.

JVIC Executive Director Ryan Giedd said the model has been a success that has drawn interest from other universities and research organizations.

"(The model) was a great way to take high-risk ideas that companies had and get them into the commercial sector, because nobody understands the commercial sector better than for-profit companies," said Giedd, who is also an MSU physics professor. "The success of the companies means the success of the center."

JVIC continues to grow and expand. Phase II renovations on two buildings east of the center's main tower are under way and should be complete later this year. Nietzel said the $5 million phase is being funded through Missouri's Lewis & Clark Discovery Initiative - a one-time infusion of $350 million for capital improvement projects at the state's higher education institutions. The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority funded the initiative by selling a portion of its loan portfolio at the direction of former Gov. Matt Blunt.

To sell the IDEA Commons concept, Nietzel pointed to the economic development generated by JVIC in just two years. The center is home to $30 million worth of high-tech equipment and machinery, and its research partners already have invested $60 million in research conducted there.

"By anybody's calculation, that was a good deal," Nietzel said, pointing to the city's original investment of $100,000.

City Manager Greg Burris called the city's decision to sell the mill property to MSU a "fortuitous gamble." Burris, who was a longtime university administrator before taking the city post in August, could prove to be an important ally for MSU as the school gradually develops the commons.

"My background at the university certainly helps me have a perspective on what the university is trying to do and is capable of doing. But at the same time, they won't get any advantages that others won't get," he said. "I have to keep the playing field level."

Pieces in place

Late last year, MSU's art and design department moved to Brick City, a newly renovated warehouse southwest of JVIC on Mill Street.

The university has signed a 10-year lease at $11.26 per square foot for the department's new digs - a 20,000-square-foot, two-story building. The building's first floor encompasses the Art and Design Gallery formerly housed at Walnut Street and Jefferson Avenue, as well as a sculpture lab and classroom. Upstairs are three painting labs, three drawing labs and faculty offices.

Incorporating other academic disciplines into IDEA Commons is paramount to the concept's success, MSU officials said.

"The future of scientific advancement is at the interfaces between the disciplines," Giedd added.

Last month, MSU closed on the $1.98 million purchase of the former Willow Brook property just south of JVIC, bringing the school's center city holdings to roughly 10 acres. The 3.5-acre tract includes a 121,000-square-foot facility previously used for poultry production and about 160 parking spaces; it could be retrofitted for use by MSU's technology and construction management departments.

The IDEA Commons concept appears to be gaining momentum among nearby businesses excited about the prospect of research-driven redevelopment. One of those businesses is Black Lantern Studios, a Springfield startup at 222 E. Water St. that develops video game software, artwork and music for second-party publishers.

"It's always exciting to see those types of joint initiatives between technology and education," said CEO Richard Woods. "We sit at the crux of technology and entertainment, so any development like that is obviously a very positive sign for us and a good reason for us to grow here in Springfield."

Downtown property values along the Boonville corridor south of Chestnut Expressway are sure to increase as the commons is developed, said Ken Schwab, a Realtor and leasing agent with Wilhoit Properties. The size of the commons footprint is especially encouraging as is the availability of parking in two new downtown garages, Schwab said.

"The beauty of this institutional development ... is that it's those types of stimuli that are helping (us) carry through this slowdown," said Schwab, whose been working for more than a year to land a tenant in the College Station development downtown. "It's coming at the perfect time, in my opinion."[[In-content Ad]]