Center carries high-tech potential
9/25/2008
Editorial
Messenger-Inquirer
Good things rarely happen overnight. It takes planning and laying groundwork, putting all the right ingredients in place. Owensboro has done a lot of that and it is destined to pay off. It is why there's so much focus on raising education levels, and why so much attention is being paid to riverfront development, downtown planning and modernizing streets and highways. All of it needs to be done to set the stage for a brighter future for this community, even if we're not sure exactly when or how everything will unfold.
But what is really encouraging is to hear news of a project designed to spur high-tech economic development and job creation and at the same time see real action.
Wednesday afternoon at a former tobacco warehouse on Allen Street immediately south of Ninth Street, people were working on the 1920s-era building, getting it ready for the next chapter in its long life. We believe it will be its most exciting chapter yet.
By next summer the 85-year-old warehouse at 1016 Allen St. will have been transformed into the high-tech Centre for Business and Research, part of the larger "Carnegie Village," planned as a mixed-use development east of the research center that will include a new police training center, a three- or four-story apartment complex, restaurants, cafes and maybe a gallery/restaurant to serve people who will work at the center.
Actually, renovation of the tobacco warehouse began a couple of months ago, but it will take all of eight or nine months to turn it into a 37,000-square foot space for biotech labs, offices and a "business accelerator" section where startup businesses can rent space. Kentucky Bio-Processing is expected to need some of the space.
Especially encouraging is the involvement of seven universities and colleges in the project. Several clients have expressed interest in leasing space. The development of what Nick Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Economic Development Corp., calls a 21st century industrial park, will take years, but it should begin producing quality jobs sooner rather than later.
Owensboro government has committed more than $2 million to the project, and Daviess County government has committed $500,000. Commercial developer Malcolm Bryant, who owns the building, is renovating it. His involvement and commitment to the project is more proof of its potential to grow the economy.
It will truly be ironic if a building that was once used to market a product, tobacco, that was a primary driver of the economy eight decades ago, becomes home to businesses that will drive the high-tech economy of the future. But that is an irony this community will relish. We believe it can happen and can grow into something spectacular.
