REDI director turns attention to "economic gardening"

Columbia, in Mike Brooks’ opinion, needs to focus on seeding new industry.
At the City Council retreat in Lake Ozark, Brooks, president of Regional Economic Development Inc., spoke of “economic gardening,” a concept that started in Littleton, Colo. The idea, according to Brooks, is to provide conditions for new businesses to develop and then provide those businesses the resources necessary to flourish.
One such resource Brooks described is a proposed group of office spaces located within the parking garage being built at the corner of Sixth and Walnut streets. He said REDI could use this space for its own offices as well as provide incubator space for new businesses trying to establish themselves.
Brooks described the proposed space as a “one-stop shop for economic development in downtown.”
Following his presentation, Brooks said details of how and at what rates the incubator space would be made available to start-up businesses was still in the planning stages. He said the cost for the space covering 13,000 square feet was estimated at $580,000.
Another resource necessary for development, Brooks said, is providing support for new entrepreneurship. Students are aware of support systems available from local schools, he said, but often unaware of what support is available from the local business community. The new location could also be used to place these support systems in one place, Brooks said, mentioning specifically the Small Business and Technology Development Center and the Procurement Technical Assistance Center — both currently housed on the University of Missouri campus.
City Manager Bill Watkins said he saw merit in the ideas being proposed by REDI. “We think there is truly an interest in that space downtown,” Watkins said.
Earlier in the session, City Council member Paul Sturtz inquired about the economic development resources the city has left at its discretion after drawing the new IBM technology service center.
The city “can’t swing for the fences very often,” Sturtz said.
Mayor Bob McDavid, however, noted that the majority of the incentives for the IBM project came from the state, not the city.
Brooks, while noting that the IBM project was the seventh largest across the nation this year, assured City Council members the city had not yet spent all of its economic development resources.
“There are ways to do things if the opportunity comes up,” Brooks said.