Council approves MSU land sale

During its Monday night meeting, Springfield City Council approved the sale of five center city properties to MSU for the planned IDEA Commons, a group of facilities meant to enhance innovation, design, entrepreneurship and arts.

IDEA Commons is centered on the Jordan Valley Innovation Center research facility at 524 Boonville Ave. and Brick City, a renovated warehouse at 305 W. Mill St. set to house the university’s Art and Design Department.

Per the council deal, MSU will pay $450,000 for the 3 acres that will allow the university to expand the innovation center.

School officials say the expansion will create high-paying jobs necessary to attract professionals to the area and retain college graduates. The 60 current employees of the various JVIC corporate affiliates earn an average of $60,000 annually, more than double the per capita income for the Springfield metropolitan statistical area.

The sale passed unanimously, though Councilman Doug Burlison expressed concern about selling the land for less than the nearly $680,000 the city originally paid for it.

“It wouldn’t be prudent at this time to oppose any bill that creates jobs in the area, especially with the jobs we’ve lost recently,” Burlison said at the meeting. “But when we have real estate and we basically exclusively offer it to one party above all others, I worry about the precedent that we set.”

City Attorney Dan Wichmer said MSU was the only potential buyer that both fit the criteria the council had set for the properties’ use and was able to buy the property without the city needing to first pay for environmental cleanup.

MSU has agreed to sell the property and split the profit evenly with the city if the university is unable to develop it within 10 years.

See SBJ’s Sept. 1 issue for more Springfield City Council news. [[In-content Ad]]