MSU getting $2.75 million grant for business center

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday that Missouri State University's IDEA Commons is getting $2.75 million to rehabilitate one of the city's biggest reminders of the recession.

The grant will help establish the Entrepreneurship and Business Development Center in the IDEA Commons urban research park. The center will be housed in the former Willow Brook Foods property, which the university purchased in October for nearly $2 million.

The grant money is available through the federal stimulus package and the Economic Development Administration, an agency within the Commerce Department supporting economic development needs in communities nationwide.

Allen Kunkel, the university's associate vice president for economic development, said the facility will be the new home for the Small Business and Technology Development Center and the construction and technology management program, as well as small-business incubator space.

"We want it to be a one-stop shop for entrepreneurship and business development," said Kunkel, who added that the project should take about 18 months once the university receives the money.

The IDEA Commons is a planned downtown community bringing together innovation, design, entrepreneurship and the arts, centered on the Jordan Valley Innovation Center. The plan is to create an area of economic development that both creates jobs and appeals to young professionals.