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"One On One"
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Inside Columbia
"One On One With Rick Finholt, Executive Director"
by Mark Slavit
Q. How do you describe your job as the executive director of research parks for the University of Missouri system?
I've worked for the University of Missouri system for the past 18 years. I came to Missouri to develop Missouri Research Park in St. Charles County. The University of Missouri already had a park adjacent to the Kansas City campus. Those were my areas of responsibility.
I had previously developed parks at Ohio State University and the University of Florida. At the time that I came here, the university had two private developers separately developing the two parks on the university's behalf. Those developers felt the need to take more control over those projects. They felt they needed an internal person to do that. I am that person.
Q. What is the concept behind the research park?
The research park industry got going at Stanford University in the early '50s when Stanford decided to take a large part of campus land and develop it as a technology office park. The concept of a research park really didn't exist at that time. In 1958, North Carolina politicians came up with the idea of a research triangle to take advantage of the research power at North Carolina State, the University of North Carolina and Duke University. Research Triangle Park, which is about 10,000 acres, is located in the triangle created by those three universities.
Both parks got off to a slow start, but the Standford Park is generally credited with the creation of Silicon Valley. Research Triangle Park is given credit for the revitalization of the North Carolina economy based on tobacco and textiles to an economy that is fully high-tech.
Q. Why is the University of Missouri positioned to develop research parks?
This is the land-grant institution for the state of Missouri. We are perfectly positioned to do this type of thing.
Basically, the idea of a research park is to bring technology-based knowledge and technology-based industries into the orbit of influence of the University of Missouri, so that the companies and the institution can interact and share knowledge, expertise and resources. The University of Missouri-Columbia is one of the foremost, broadly based universities in the country. Mizzou is only one of four institutions (with Ohio State University, the University of Florida and University of Minnesota) to have all of its graduate schools, medical school, agricultural school and veterinary school on the same campus. That's a broadly based research program that really is difficult to match.
Q. Rick, you've worked all across the country. Tell me about yourself. Where is your hometown? Why did you get into economic development?
In a roundabout way, I grew up in Chicago. I went to the University of Illinois. I got my Ph.D. in American literature at Northern Illinois University. I became an assistant professor of American literature at Ohio State University in 1976. In 1982, my former dean at Ohio State asked me to write the feasibility study for a research park. That was 25 years ago. That's how I got going.
Q. What have you learned from your experiences at Missouri Research Park in St. Charles County that will help with the development of Discovery Ridge here in Columbia?
Discovery Ridge will attempt to bring knowledge-based industries into the University of Missouri's orbit of influence. In a basic way, it's using the power of real estate to provide these companies with a location where they work with the university and other similar companies. For example, the research park in the St. Louis area is the only park that caters exclusively to high-technology, research-oriented companies. That's who we market to. The same thing would be true here. It is true with our first two tenants and the types of tenants that we are looking to attract.
The University of Missouri-Columbia's diverse research opportunities are really what attract companies. It's really more than research. It's about using our students and faculty. We know technology companies like to cluster together. Once you create the cluster, it tends to build on itself.
Right now, the United States has about 100 university research parks. The economic activity in those parks is more than $31 billion a year and growing.
Q The University of Missouri has research parks in St. Charles, Fort Leonard Wood and Kansas City. Why do we need another one in Columbia?
This is the right park in the right location at the right time for this community and this university. Technology companies are looking for a campus-like environment. Discovery Ridge will be successful because the employees of these technology-based and knowledge-based companies are very similar to our faculty. They are quality-of-life oriented. They like their association with their colleagues. This type of work between scholars and scientists tends to breed new activity.
Q. Should we have any concerns about a research park in our backyard? Are there any dangers?
No. I just can't think of any kind of situation. Everything is so tightly controlled by the government.
Q. Part of the Discovery Ridge development is the new U.S. 63 interchange south of the existing Grindstone Parkway. What's the status of the interchange project, and what is its significance?
If I could back up for a second, it's important to understand that the University of Missouri system has invested $3 million of its own money for this project. That amount has been matched by federal highway dollars, state grants and infrastructure grants from the city of Columbia. This is definitely a team effort.
The university also donated some land for the interchange. It's a $14 million project. There's another $3 million to $4 million of additional development for the Gans Road area. It's about a $17 million investment for all of the shareholders.
If you take a long-term view, the value of this interchange cannot be overstated. We're not only talking about the development of this 100-acre phase one of Discovery Ridge. You're also talking about Discovery Ridge Village to the west, and the way in which that development is going to complement the research park is really astounding in terms of the types of retail, offices and residential locations that it brings to the area. The interchange will open up new development on that entire east end of town.
Q. The first tenant of Discovery Ridge is ABC Laboratories, which has a building rising on the site. How is that project coming, and do you have other prospective tenants?
We've had some preliminary talks with a couple of companies. I don't think that I am at liberty to say anything about that. We need to get the new interchange and road improvements finished in order to attract more companies.
ABC Labs took a huge gamble in coming to Discovery Ridge in the early stages. Former university President Elson Floyd's powers of persuasion helped get ABC Labs to come aboard early. I think they will make a terrific first tenant. ABC Labs is also an excellent model for what we will see in the future.
Q. How do you create a good reputation for Discovery Ridge this early in the game?
You create a campus-like environment. You just find out what companies want Discovery Ridge to be.
Q. We've mentioned four University of Missouri research parks. Do we need any more, and if so, where should they be?
We are already working on a research park near the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. The curators just approved our plan for a research park on the old golf course adjacent to the University of Missouri-Rolla campus. The Rolla campus has a huge connection to private industry.
Q. Looking a decade or more into the future, how does the university envision Discovery Ridge will look, and what role will the park be playing?
The research park in St. Charles is a good model for the future of Discovery Ridge. We started with no tenants in St. Charles. We now have 18 tenants. We have market capitalization in the billions of dollars. We have more than 2,000 employees. We have about 200 acres of developed land.
People have credited the St. Charles research park with creating a technology corridor in the St. Louis area. I look for something very similar here in Columbia. The difference here in Columbia is that the smaller the community, the more difficult it is to make these parks work. The high-tech economy is smaller in a city like Columbia. On the other hand, Columbia has a high quality of life. There are those niches.
If there is one thing true of companies interested in research parks it's that they are niche companies. If you talk to people at the St. Charles research park, they will all tell you that they are the best at what they do. When you look at what they do, you'll see that they are working on a very narrow niche. They have found that niche. They may not be big companies. They are, indeed, the best in the world.
Q. The Columbia Regional Airport is struggling these days. How does a lack of transportation hurt your efforts in attracting business?
Those are issues. I wouldn't say the Columbia Regional Airport is too small. Successful parks have been created in Ames, Iowa and other smaller cities. Columbia isn't too small. It is a difficult proposition. It's not going to happen within the next two or three years. That's what I think the public needs to recognize. This is something that germinates over a 10- or 20-year time frame.
Q. How are research parks different today than when you first started 25 years ago?
When I got into the business during the 1980s, research parks had the reputation that they didn't work. If you look at parks that were created in the 1970s, you'll see that they were underfunded or a change in administration would force a cut in funding. That still happens; that is a danger. We just know so much more about how to run these parks today. The chances of that kind of meltdown today are nothing like they were in the 1970s.
Because universities have taken on such a huge role in making research parks successful these days, governments and private companies are recognizing that research parks are really, really important. They are not just important for cities like Columbia, but for the state and the nation.
Inside Columbia ©October 2007
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