City launches high-tech plan

Cornerstone Information Systems, Information in Place, UNext and Wisdom Tools are all high-tech firms established in Bloomington during Mayor John Fernandez's administration.\nBut Fernandez -- who has made a priority of attracting high-tech businesses -- doesn't intend to rest on his laurels.\nFernandez announced a public-private partnership to redevelop the abandoned Thomson Electronics plant Wednesday. In 1998, Thomson closed the factory, which had produced televisions for 58 years.\nThe plan calls for the demolition of the building, located on Rogers Street, and construction of a campus-type development of 300,000 square feet of high-tech office space. Previously discussed plans to renovate the building proved to be economically impractical.\n"The new development that will occur represents Bloomington's commitment to making a smooth transition into our changing economy," Fernandez said. "This area will become a center for growing high-tech businesses, providing employment opportunities for area residents and redevelop an abandoned industrial facility."\nThe city will partner with Patterson Management Group to finance the project. The city will fund the demolition of the building, while Patterson will finance the construction of the new facilities. \nThe facilities will house office space for high-tech users and a "high-technology incubator" that will provide shared resources for small, emerging technology-based businesses.\n"It's not exclusively for high-tech businesses," said Nathan Hadley, the city's executive assistant for economic development. "But that's the target market. They'll want to take advantage of the infrastructure provided."\nThe city plans to finance the demolition with tax revenues generated by new capital investment in designated revitalization areas, including the area of the site. Taxes collected from the site will be used to fund future reinvestment projects. \n"We are excited to move forward on this project and develop a premiere urban office park for Bloomington," said Tim Mitchell, chief executive officer of Patterson Management Group. "With the city's help, we're going to transform this site into an employment center for highly skilled and highly paid workers." \nThe site has access to fiber optic cables installed under Rogers Street in the first phase of the city's "Digital Underground" initiative.\n"Direct fiber optic network has provided the critical infrastructure necessary to the success of this project," Mitchell said. "We believe this development will attract high-tech companies that need flexible space to grow their businesses." \nThe proposal will need approval from the city council, and the mayor will seek up to $1.1 million from the city's redevelopment commission. Pending approval, demolition of the building will take place this spring, and construction of the first new office building will start in the summer.