Tribune Photo/GREG SWIERCZ
Work is nearing completion on the three-story Innovation Park, south of the University of Notre Dame campus.
Innovation Park, the long-anticipated research park near the University of Notre Dame, is preparing to open its doors next month.
Construction on the three-story red brick building along Angela Boulevard is nearly complete. The interior is abuzz with activity, with workers recently hanging light fixtures, installing floor tiles and completing the extensive network of high-tech communications equipment.
Innovation Park is expected to be home to a variety of startup businesses.
"Everything here revolves around connecting, collaborating and commercializing," said David Brenner, Innovation Park's president and chief executive officer.
The facility is on schedule to be completed in late September. The administrative staff of about six and the first tenants are scheduled to move in shortly after that.
So far, no tenants have been announced.
Brenner said he isn't yet ready to release information about prospective tenants. "Those discussions are ongoing," he said.
Of the building's 55,000 square feet, about 30,000 is space available for lease.
A large section of the first floor, facing north to campus, is designated as the "greenhouse" -- a large open room where space will be rented to entrepreneurs on a short-term basis to determine whether their ideas are strong enough to evolve into startup companies.
The greenhouse features large windows, track lighting and exposed duct work.
Flexibility is the key word in the building's interior design -- it has modular walls that can be taken down and moved to increase or decrease research and office space. Chairs and desks, filing cabinets and even laboratory tables will be on wheels.
The park offers high-speed Internet service through the Metronet.
A first-floor conference room opens onto a large patio with a view toward Notre Dame. Two floors up, there's a high-tech board room and 1,000-square-foot outdoor balcony with a panoramic view of campus and the Eddy Street Commons retail-office-housing development to the west.
The board room and balcony, like many of the spaces in the building, will be available for lease to area companies and other groups. The balcony also is expected to be for lease for private functions, such as wedding rehearsal dinners.
The building includes a high-tech security system to ensure only tenants and invited visitors will be able to enter. Once inside, a person must pass through additional security checks to access specific areas.
Brenner will oversee Innovation Park. He'll work closely with city officials, who will manage the other site -- Ignition Park, on former Studebaker Corp. land southwest of downtown South Bend.
Innovation Park is expected to be in use around the clock.
It includes several dry and wet laboratories that can be leased by the day or week by entrepreneurs or area companies.
The second floor now is a large open space punctuated only by steel support beams. It will be predominately offices and dry laboratories, with spaces finished to suit specific tenants. The third floor will have more offices and wet labs, also tailored to the needs of tenants.
The wet labs are expected to be a big draw for entrepreneurs and established businesses alike. It's not easy or cheap to find leasable wet labs in this region, Brenner said, saying many companies have to go to the Chicago area to use such spaces.
"We're trying to accommodate everyone from a raw startup all the way to a Fortune 500 company," Brenner said.
Innovation Park is modeled after a variety of research parks, said Brenner, who has visited more than 20 parks across the country.
The most successful research parks have common characteristics, he said, including: flexible space, security, confidentiality for tenants, nearby access to a research university and a medical school, and access to convenient retail, restaurants and housing.
By the time the first Innovation Park building is fully occupied in several years, it could house more than 100 workers on a daily basis. Planning is under way for a second building that will be built south of the first.
Prospective tenants don't have to have ties to Notre Dame, but many of them will, Brenner said. "You typically don't move into a research-tech park unless you want to engage with faculty experts," he said.
The $15 million building was built with a $2 million construction grant provided by the state of Indiana, as well as other state, federal, city, Notre Dame and private donor money. Brenner declined to provide a breakdown of how much came from each source.
The park has a long-term lease for the land, which is owned by Notre Dame.
Innovation Park is managed by a private non-profit corporation that is a fully owned subsidiary of Notre Dame. Other area colleges will be encouraged to get involved there through faculty research, student internship opportunities and jobs for graduates.
When football fans arrive in town next month, many may be surprised at the dramatic changes south of campus. The development of Innovation Park is one piece of a transformation under way in South Bend, Brenner said.
"This park is a key part of that change, but we're not the only change," Brenner said. The changes include Innovation Park, Ignition Park, growth at Notre Dame, development of Eddy Street Commons and expansion of Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend.
"We're creating," Brenner said, "an innovation ecosystem."
Staff writer Margaret Fosmoe:
mfosmoe@sbtinfo.com
(574) 235-6329
