The corner of 35th and State streets at the southeast tip of IIT?s Main Campus is the locus for observing the future of Chicago?s Mid-South Side. With a 360-degree view of new construction and further development approved, activity at this intersection is signaling a neighborhood on the brink of a new era.
Central to this growth is University Technology Park At IIT (UTP), comprised of six pre-existing IIT buildings and three proposed new facilities. IIT?s newest contribution to the transformation of the South Side, UTP will provide science and technology companies with economically priced laboratory space, including ?incubator? facilities, which are critical to the growth of many start-up ventures. When the project is complete, UTP will boast 1.5 million square feet of rentable space. Although the research park will provide university-wide opportunities, UTP?s benefits will extend well beyond IIT.
?When completed in 10 years, this will be huge,? says David Baker, vice president of external affairs at IIT and interim executive director of UTP, who, along with Dan Marselle (CHE ?78), associate director of technology and business services at UTP, is overseeing the project. ?This is an unparalleled opportunity to make an indelible mark on the growth of this part of the city.?
Laying the Groundwork
The largest investment in the area since the 1991 opening of nearby U.S. Cellular Field, UTP is, by design, being built to foster an active mixing of science, commerce, and community. Its promise includes access to jobs and internships at UTP for IIT students and close proximity to company consulting opportunities for IIT faculty. UTP clients will be able to take advantage of a number of IIT resources, including use of laboratory equipment, conference facilities, and library and reference facilities, as well as an affiliation with a research university. The surrounding neighborhood will experience an influx of investment in the form of 2,500 job opportunities that UTP is estimated to generate over the next 10 years. UTP will join Chicago Technology Park, heretofore the only site for the development of biotechnology companies in the region, in promoting the growth and expansion of the life sciences industry in Chicago.
In an ongoing effort to enhance the Mid-South, the City of Chicago moved the Chicago Police Department headquarters to the corner of 35th Street and Michigan Avenue in 2000. At the same time, the city and the Chicago Housing Authority reached the critical decision to dismantle the failed public housing structures just south of Main Campus. Baker says those changes helped to lay the groundwork for UTP.
 ?If you had asked anybody in 1999 whether we could attract technology start-ups to 35th and State, they would have laughed at you, because in 1999, other than the new police headquarters being under construction, there was no indication of how quickly this neighborhood was going to change. Also in 1999, all the buildings that are part of UTP were owned by IIT Research Institute [IITRI], and the university had no interest in acquiring them,? says Baker. The 2002 spin-off of most of IITRI into Alion Science and Technology led to the university gaining control of the future UTP buildings. Now, market demand is working in tandem with reinvestment in the area to drive the development of UTP.
?The incubator at Chicago Technology Park has been filled for years, and companies were being turned away. As companies have outgrown those facilities, it has been very hard for them to create their next space. A lot of them have left the state,? says Baker, adding that UTP also will provide a potential new home for University of Chicago?s companies and research endeavors, further enhancing the relationship between IIT and U of C.
To meet this need, UTP is being developed in three phases. Phase I includes the creation of a 30,000-square-feet Incubator in the former Engineering Research Building?originally designed by Mies van der Rohe?co-located with the research laboratories of IIT?s biomedical and chemical engineering faculties. The first 6,000 square feet of Incubator space, funded by the State of Illinois, includes room for four companies. The facility features wet and dry labs with adjoining, customizable office spaces and is equipped for clients to add portable natural gas, compressed air, and vacuum systems.
?It doesn?t stop with the physical needs,? says Vice Provost and Director of the Institute of Business and Interprofessional Studies Dennis Roberson, who has been involved with incubator facilities in South Carolina, Illinois, Malaysia, and Singapore. ?Companies that don?t go to an incubator will experience a significant investment of time and money to get their business started. There are a whole set of needs that any new business has?business (including accounting, business plan development, financial planning, human resources, taxes, and payroll), legal (including patent filing and other intellectual property support, company formation, contract support, environmental issues, and mergers and acquisition counsel), and technical consulting and support. Incubator resources can provide all sorts of advice to help fledgling companies jump-start their businesses.?
 Phase I also includes Technology Business Center 1, previously called the Chemical Research Building, a $50 million, state-of-the-art, build-to-suit facility for companies needing 3,000?15,000 square feet of space. IIT engaged Wexford Science and Technology, LLC, a private developer with strong expertise in research park development, as its partner on the project. Wexford acquired the building from the university and used private-sector financing strategies, city and federal incentives, as well as private equity and debt financing to fund the construction. Work on this facility began in January. The building will be ready for tenant occupancy in summer 2006. Also part of this phase, IITRI Center, now home of IIT Research Institute Life Sciences Group, just completed a $20 million expansion.
In addition, software and information technology companies are now locating in IIT Tower, where affordable space goes hand-in-hand with the availability of skilled IIT computer science students.
Subsequent phases will include renovation of other existing buildings in UTP and expansion to the parking lots on the east side of State Street, once a new parking garage is built.
Enriching the Client Experience
Two clients taking early advantage of UTP are Said Al-Hallaj and J. Robert Selman, professors in IIT?s chemical and environmental engineering department. In 2001, Al-Hallaj and Selman formed All Cell Technologies, LLC to develop and commercialize lithium-ion batteries for portable power and electric vehicle applications. Last year, Al-Hallaj and some of his students launched Sun Phocus Technologies, LLC, a company that is working to develop and commercialize solar powered windows for use in generating electricity for office buildings. All Cell and Sun Phocus moved into a new laboratory space in the Incubator in February and began operating there in March.
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