Guest Column: Seeking common ground in center city

Missouri State University is committed to the economy of the Ozarks.

A centerpiece in this philosophy is continued financial investments in preserving and building center city Springfield. There are three periods of investment to consider.

The school’s history downtown began in 1989 with the acquisition of the Meyer Alumni Center. The Jim D. Morris Center for Continuing Education, formerly the Southwestern Bell Building, was donated in fall 1990. And MSU played the opening game in Hammons Field on April 2, 2004, and has been an annual tenant ever since.

The second period commenced with Jordan Valley Innovation Center. This landmark structure in downtown Springfield was transformed from an abandoned feed mill to a nationally known high-technology research center. In May 2003, with help and encouragement from Congressman Roy Blunt, the city purchased the MFA Mill for $100,000 as a brownfields project. A year later, the city and MSU announced plans to convert the facility into a research center. In 2005, MSU purchased the facility from the city for $1 as renovation plans accelerated. Some $22 million later, JVIC is a reality.

The third period is under way. It started with the lease of Brick City and Park Central Office Building. Brick City will house MSU’s Art and Design Department, and the school has a three-year lease on the Park Central Office Building, which will house a number of offices, programs and classrooms.

Big idea

The next step – with JVIC at the core – is what we are calling the IDEA Commons.

The IDEA Commons would be an urban neighborhood devoted to those areas of the university with strong potential for commercialization and cross leveraging; it would include academic programs, research projects and university-private company partnerships in the substantive areas of Innovation-Design-Entrepreneurship-Arts.

The IDEA Commons would be developed using properties near JVIC. It would share features of a modern research park and an urban campus and be intended to spur the co-location of private companies that specialize in the niche areas that the IDEA Commons will feature – medical devices, materials science, defense industry technology, design and visual arts. Like the research parks of today and those that are anticipated for tomorrow, the IDEA Commons will focus on multitenant development, shared facilities and equipment, the incubation of its niche technologies, the presence of amenities to attract and retain working professionals at the Commons, and a commitment to public-private partnerships. It can take full advantage of the large, relatively open facilities that currently exist in the area, because as they say, “new ideas require old buildings.”

I believe the IDEA Commons will be more than just a physical area. It also should convey an attitude about Springfield and the Ozarks as an economic region for the future. It should help us develop both the personality and infrastructure that are necessary for innovation. And it should serve as a magnet for young people choosing Springfield to live and work.

Brain drain

A challenge for all communities is to retain talented, young people as the lifeblood of their economies. We now know from a substantial amount of research that geographic mobility slows down as people age. This has important implications for Springfield. We will be more successful with strategies that focus on attracting and keeping young people in Springfield immediately after they complete their education than we will trying to draw them back as they enter their 30s or 40s.

MSU recognizes the important role it can and should play in strengthening our region’s ability to compete in the global, information-based economy. As a continuation of the university’s long-term investment in downtown Springfield, the IDEA Commons is envisioned as a strategy that will attract and cluster the creative talent and innovation-based ventures that will be essential to the 21st century economic productivity of the Ozarks. Springfield can be a distinctive city, known for the overall quality of life enjoyed by its residents as well as its intent to create a dynamic economic future based on front-edge intellectual discoveries and their applications.

Missouri State University President Dr. Michael T. Nietzel can be reached at mikenietzel@missouristate.edu.[[In-content Ad]]