Discovery Ridge offers high-tech companies
a future home

To Rick Finholt, Discovery Ridge is just the beginning.

The executive director of research parks for the University of Missouri says Discovery Ridge can position itself for "the new high-tech, knowledge-dependent, research-oriented economy.”

The research park, situated on U.S. 63 about three miles southeast of the MU campus, plans to more than triple in size from about 100 acres to 335 acres during the next 20 years. While Finholt said there are no pending announcements regarding development within Discovery Ridge, now is the time to prepare.

Click here for the developmental plans of Discovery Ridge.

“The world economy is in free fall," Finholt said. "Consequently, we are not so much looking to fill the park as quickly as possible as we are positioning our park, university and community to take advantage of the new high-tech economy that is likely to emerge from the carnage.

“Companies with outmoded business models, especially companies focused on businesses like banking, health insurance, print media and residential construction will either change radically or cease to exist,” Finholt said.

He said the university hopes that Discovery Ridge, along with the new Life Sciences Incubator, will help lay the groundwork for new business and research prospects.

Bernie Andrews, executive vice president for Regional Economic Development Inc., an organization that works to attract business to Columbia, describes Discovery Ridge as "shovel-ready." This means that the location has installed utilities and suitable transportation connections that make it immediately ready for development.

Investments in projects that move into such sites make an impact on the local economy more rapidly because of the reduction of time that must be spent on utilities, zoning, legal considerations and other factors.

Discovery Ridge already has two tenants: ABC Labs and RADIL. Analytical Bio-Chemistry Laboratories Inc. provides contract services to the pharmaceutical and chemical industries while the Research Animal Diagnostic Laboratory, which is owned by the university, is a service laboratory providing research into animal infectious diseases, fertility techniques and infertility problems.

There are still four out of six lots available for lease, but the remaining lots are relatively small and unsuitable for the larger tenants that would be most beneficial to Columbia’s economy.

MU, the city of Columbia and the Missouri Department of Economic Development, among others, financed approximately $6 million in infrastructure for phase one of Discovery Ridge, not including an estimated $10.7 million spent on the U.S. 63 interchange. Phase two development, which is expected to cost about $12 million will prepare approximately another 235 acres of infrastructure in hopes of attracting local and international firms onto the site .

Phase two, like phase one, will prepare lots ready for marketing to potential clients to meet the goal of tripling the size of the research park during the next two decades.

The $12 million estimated cost of phase two would include grading, street and sidewalk construction, landscaping and the installation of utilities like sewers, storm sewers, electrical service, gas lines and water lines. Financing is expected to come from a myriad of potential sources, including the federal stimulus package in addition to the funding sources used to complete phase one.

Finholt said companies that move into Discovery Ridge should have an ongoing relationship with academic components of MU, or at least the potential for fostering them.

Andrews said that Discovery Ridge complements MU’s new Life Sciences Incubator because the incubator gives the community sites for smaller and start-up technology- related companies while Discovery Ridge offers sites for larger, more established companies.

One of the main tools Columbia can use to draw businesses into the community is the Boone County Chapter 100 Revenue Bond program. Chapter 100 Revenue Bonds are a mechanism that allows abatement of a portion of property taxes for qualifying business projects.

Andrews feels the tax incentives will help attract companies to Discovery Ridge and can be used as an incentive to lure business because it can reduce property taxes to a negotiated level.

“Many communities are willing to lower the taxes in exchange for new investment and job creation in the community,” Andrews said. “This policy was essential to securing ABC Labs as the anchor tenant into Discovery Ridge.”

The Boone County tax incentive policy calls for a maximum abatement of 50 percent of the property taxes that would be due for a period not to exceed 10 years.