University of Phoenix enters Springfield

School that caters to nontraditional students signs Tuscany Court lease

by Paul Schreiber

SBJ Reporter

pschreiber@sbj.net

The University of Phoenix has landed in Springfield. And area developer Bill Jester has landed his final tenant at Tuscany Court, a million-dollar-plus, 28,000-square-foot office complex in southeast Springfield.

On Aug. 10, the University of Phoenix signed a seven-year lease for 9,000 square feet at Tuscany Court, 1343 E. Kingsley, said Jester, president of Resource Develop-ment Inc. and owner of the office complex. The Springfield location is the university's third site in Missouri, with brick-and-mortar campuses already operating in St. Louis and Kansas City.

But before nestling in at Tuscany Court, the Phoenix-based educational corporation will offer class-based and online programs in a temporary location at 1260 E. Kingsley by the end of August, said Michael Kaley, associate director for the new campus.

Students should be working at the university's permanent site a little later in the year. Depending on the speed of Phoenix-based Carpenter Sellers Architects' design plans and construction progress thereafter, classes should be operational in Springfield in about four months, said Jerrad Tausz, vice president and campus director of the school's Kansas City location.

Initial undergraduate programs offered locally will be degrees in business management and information technology; graduate offerings will be in the areas of management, business administration, technology management and health care management, Tausz said.

Not including the 50 to 100 faculty practitioners who will be teaching courses, permanent staff will begin at about 10 and should level off at around 20 next year, Kaley said. Those permanent positions include administration, academic counselors and financial aid representatives.

Need

The move into the Springfield market is based on the school's niche target of the "working adult student," Tausz said. "What we're seeing is a tremendous need for adult education down there," he added, also citing the city's economic development and overall population increase as driving factors.

The average University of Phoenix student is in the mid-30s age range, with a job and about 10 years of employment experience. The students also typically have families, Kaley said. Younger students must be at least 18 years old and have access to a computer for the online coursework, he added.

Final approval from Missouri's Coordinating Board for Higher Education was granted July 29, Tausz said. The university is accredited through the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Significance

By landing the university, Tuscany Court is 100 percent occupied, said Ken Schwab, manager of Wilhoit Properties, who served as leasing agent on the deal. But Schwab said the deal almost didn't.

The school required 9,000 square feet; Tuscany Court had 6,000 square feet remaining.

The school's required space was made available when Jester and The Bank (now The Signature Bank) agreed to terminate the lease on 2,500 square feet used as the bank's mortgage operations.

"If The Bank wasn't willing to leave, we probably wouldn't have landed the University of Phoenix, since its space needs exceeded what we had left in the building," Schwab said.

The 9,000 square feet secured by the university is what it typically leases in areas with populations similar in size to Springfield, Tausz said.

Other tenants in the office complex are HealthSouth Rehabilitation Center of Springfield with 4,000 square feet, Intermed Insurance Company with 13,500 square feet and one sublease tenant, Personal Image Skincare, with 1,500 square feet, Schwab said.

Jester said the space has taken longer than expected to fill. Tuscany Court was completed in 2001.

"Much longer than we had hoped," Jester said, "but boy, we've got a good one."

While Kaley declined to provide a lease amount, Schwab said the property was on the market for $14 a square foot.

When tenant improvements are completed, the location will feature five classrooms, a student resource center outfitted with computers, and administrative space for the campus director and staff, Tausz said.

Class specs

Undergraduate classes typically last five weeks with students attending class one night in the first and last weeks, Tausz said. Weeks two through four are scheduled for online work with participation that is often daily, he added. Graduate classes are six weeks long, and students meet the first and sixth weeks, with online studies in between, he added.

With this modality, the location could accommodate between 800 and 1,000 students meeting at separate times over the course of a week, Tausz said. Classes are held primarily in the evenings and on Saturdays to fit students' work schedules, he said.

Undergraduate programs require 120 hours of instruction and cost $300 per credit hour; graduate costs are $360 an hour with different programs requiring different hours, Tausz said.

About Phoenix

The University of Phoenix is a private, for-profit subsidiary of publicly traded Apollo Group Inc., an education corporation that owns other universities, such as Western International University, College for Financial Planning and the Institute for Professional Development, Tausz said.

The University of Phoenix was founded in 1976 and has 140 campuses in 33 states; total enrollment is over 200,000, Tausz said.

Jester said his first acquaintance with the University of Phoenix was through doing research on a graduate paper in 1976 at Southwest Baptist University. "It's an exciting thing for the educational community in Springfield."