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Chicago City Council Tax Increment Financing Agreement Approval Paves Way for University Technology Park At IIT

Posted on: Thursday, 13 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

CHICAGO, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- A Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Agreement approved by the Chicago City Council paves the way for the opening of University Technology Park At IIT (UTP), on the campus of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). The park, made possible by $6 million in state grants and $75 million in public and private funding, including a $25 million commitment from IIT, marks the largest commercial investment in Chicago's South Side since the completion of new Comiskey Park/US Cellular Field in 1991. UTP will generate approximately 2,500 jobs at all levels of technical, professional and support expertise over the next decade.

The University Technology Park Incubator will open this month with one-third of the space already leased to start-up companies All Cell Technology and Solar Phocus Technology.

"University Technology Park At IIT is an exciting opportunity to encourage businesses and academia to share their intellectual as well as scientific resources and facilities," said Lew Collens, President of IIT. "UTP will be an important element in the continuing redevelopment of the South Side and the growth of the region's technology economy."

University Technology Park At IIT will satisfy the need for state-of-the- art lab space for emerging life science, bio and technology companies. "UTP will be a catalyst in positioning Chicago as a hub for emerging technologies," said David Weinstein, President of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.

University Technology Park, through renovation of existing buildings and new construction, will have 1.5 million square feet of space to house mid-sized growing, high-growth, and spin-off technology companies. Successful companies that graduate from the incubator can move right into this space.

"By giving startups access to on-site graduate space, we will be able to retain these companies, and the jobs they create, in the local economy. Too often, such companies move out of the area, and out of Illinois, when they outgrow incubation," said David Baker, Vice President of External Affairs at IIT.

In addition to state-of-the-art wet and dry labs and access to the resources of the world-renowned IIT Research Institute, UTP will offer services that small and medium-sized companies could otherwise not afford.

The additional private funding for University Technology Park At IIT is being provided by Townsend Capital, LLC, a Maryland-based private real estate investment firm with an expertise in providing sophisticated financial structuring and project development for large corporate and institutional clients across the country.

"We're excited to be a part of University Technology Park," said James Berens, President of Townsend Capital. "Our relationship with IIT is another example of the entrepreneurial partnerships we have created with corporations, health systems, and universities throughout the country."

Web site: http://www.iit.edu/ http://www.universitytechnologypark.com/

Illinois Institute of Technology

CONTACT: Thom Karmik of Illinois Institute of Technology,+1-312-567-5057, +1-773-552-1712

Web site: http://www.iit.edu/http://www.universitytechnologypark.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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