MIDDLE MARKET HIGHLIGHT, OCTOBER 2007

Bloomington
Dan Marcec

Bloomington, Indiana, is alive with development, especially in the life sciences industry, which includes both medical and biotech businesses. Area companies such as ProCure, Cook Pharmica, BioConvergence, PPM, Information in Place Inc. and Bloom all have been growing, and the healthcare, information technology and service industries are strong as well.

“We’re looking for small to mid-size life science and technology companies, as well as business services that are a good fit of the community in terms of physical space, desired amenities and those that meet workforce requirements,” says Ron Walker, president of the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation (BEDC).

In order to attract companies that are the right fit for Bloomington, the BEDC spends a large amount of time working with existing firms, because by engendering growth from within, not only do those companies thrive themselves, but also it shows businesses interested in the area the positive aspects of locating there. By meeting the existing companies’ requirement needs in workforce, training dollars and infrastructure improvement, expansion comes from within as well as from the outside.

With Indiana University located in Bloomington, there is a lot of cooperation between research at the university and the life sciences industry. Most of the large companies are independent, but many of the smaller ones had an affiliation with the university at one time. Therefore, it’s important to keep the relationship between the educational community and the business community strong.

“One main thing we’ve done in the last 5 years is help prepare students for life sciences jobs in order to grow the industry,” Walker says. “The Indiana Center for Life Sciences, which broke ground in late September, provides a 20,000-square-foot training facility to do just that.”

A fair amount of development has occurred in the downtown sector during the last few years, primarily in the form of redevelopment, renovations and infill work. Currently, the vacancy rates in the downtown office market are very low, and have improved considerably compared to just a few years ago. With office space building up, mixed-use projects that have ground-floor retail with either office space or residential above are a key development type as well. More than 2,000 bedrooms have been built in downtown, and both a new 160-room hotel and a parking garage have been constructed recently. By offering incentives via TIF, CRED (Community Revitalization Enhancement District), and urban enterprise zones, the city has been able to engender positive growth in all these sectors.

Downtown, Procure is constructing an infill, two-story building along the city’s main north/south artery for its national headquarters. Just on the outskirts of downtown, Cook Pharmica — a biotech company and contract pharmaceutical manufacturer that came to in Bloomington in 2005 — purchased some vacant buildings and has renovated them for new facilities. BioConvergence, another pharmaceutical solutions provider, recently celebrated its 1-year anniversary and is in the midst of a 20,000-square-foot expansion on the west side.

On the west end of Bloomington (west of State Route 37), the Indiana Enterprise Center and North Park have been the most significant areas seeing construction.

“In North Park, 500 acres at the State Route 46 bypass immediately west of State Road 37 has been designated for long-term development with mixed-use potential; there is room for a new town center there as well as residential and office product. A hospital has purchased several acres for potential development on the site, as well,” Walker says. “An 11-acre Indiana University property within downtown’s Certified Technology Park just released potential qualifications for redevelopment. By all accounts, the future looks bright for Bloomington.”

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