WSU Innovation Campus Business Model

[MoValley John]

Cold, I'll take a few of my own photos of the UNO Scott Campus. I ride through it three times a week as its on one of the bike trails I use. From the development I've heard about on the WSU campus, it is going to be better than that of UNO, but the photos I take should show you how awesome your Innovation campus will be.

I understand and appreciate that you're worried about where the money comes, but I can guarantee you WSU isn't losing on the deal; Topeka won't let it happen and the moment WSU starts spending real money on the thing, KU would scream foul. This project will be a win for WSU, the city of Wichita and all of the businesses invested in the project. If I were you, I'd sit back, smile and watch this thing mature.

[WstateU]

This ones a little different, but we do have some 'heavy hitters' in the community that love and support Wichita State... and don't undersell our students; we're getting bright ones like some of you guys.


Bastians, Fidelity Bank add $500,000 to donation for WSU's new business school home

https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/...hool-give.html

Record gift launches new home
for Barton School of Business

https://www.wichita.edu/academics/bu...olsey_hall.php

Dondlinger wins bid for construction of WSU's new $60M business school building

By Shelby Reynolds – Reporter, Wichita Business Journal

Oct 7, 2020, 4:32pm EDT

Dondlinger Construction will build the three-story, 125,000 square-foot Woosley Hall, the new home for Wichita State University's W. Frank Barton School of Business.

The university announced the awarding bid Wednesday in a news release.

WSU says Dondlinger's bid was the lowest of eight submitted for the $60 million project, which also involves a 9,000 square-foot mechanical penthouse. WSU also wants to add a 300-foot pedestrian bridge over a nearby pond, a $2.65 million project.

Wayne and Kay Woolsey Hall, named for the Wichita couple who made the lead gift in the fundraising campaign, will be built near the geographic center of WSU's campus, south of the new YMCA and east of the WSU police station.

Dondlinger has finished several construction projects on the WSU campus, including Shocker Hall, the Rhatigan Student Center renovation, the Bardo Center and recent Eck Stadium improvements.

The three-story, LEED-certified building was designed by the architectural team of GastingerWalker of Kansas City and Gensler Chicago. A groundbreaking is scheduled for Oct. 22, and the new facility is expected to be completed in spring 2022.

https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/...VSdFEifQ%3D%3D\

https://media.bizj.us/view/img/11672456/image001*1024xx1244-700-3-0.jpg

https://media.bizj.us/view/img/11843477/bridgelg*1200xx3000-1692-0-154.jpg

[Shockm]

Okay, I'll give you a little meat. I've watched in awe as the development of UNO took place. I've also followed with interest the thread on Wichita State's innovation campus. What is happenihappening at UNO is pissing off everyone in Lincoln. Everyone. UNO is supposed to be the red headed step child. The state has starved UNO. The leadership at UNO and civic leaders in Omaha said ENOUGH! They looked at what other schools were doing and came up with a plan, the state did not provide any extra money for the project. Just like WSU, building and development hadn't happened at UNO since well before 1994, when I arrived in town. UNO was a dump. I've seen photos of WSU, its always been beautiful, nit a dump, but I'll take your word for it that there hadn't been any development. My guess, the people in Lawrence and Topeka treat WSU similar to the way decision makers in Lincoln treat UNO. The innovation campus is a end around the people in Topeka and Lawrence, and I'm sure they are watching with interest and maybe some disdain.

As for UNO, land from the racetrack and abandoned executive golf course was put into a trust for the county to develop. Funny thing, the people running the trust were civic leaders with close ties to UNO. Without additional state money, UNO now had land to expand. Donors paid for the business school to be built on the new campus, and the Peter Kewitt Institute (engineering) was built. Immediately, First Data Resources moved their operation on campus to be close to the engineering school, HDR, an architectural engineering firm scrapped plans to build a new headquarters downtown and built on the campus. Kewitt also has offices on campus. Dorms were built, a student center and other amenities were built and enrollment jumped from 10,000 to 15,000 students. UNO went from a commuter school to a full on university with students from all 50 states and a large international group of students.

Pacific Mutual and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska moved their offices on campus to be close to the business school and attract interns and workers. A large apartment and condo complex now borders the east side of the new campus. All of the businesses built their own buildings and do not rent from the university. The land is held in trust and rent is paid to the trust, UNO lives rent free.

There are hotels, a gym, a movie theater and restaurants and bars. A splash pad, along with a Greenspace used as an amphitheater draws people in.

All of this was done because there was land near the campus and people with power were motivated. Wichita State had an underutilized golf course and a leader with a plan. To quote Joe Biden,, they are building bigger, better. I dont believe taxes have increased for the project and businesses are jumping at the chance to be in new, exciting spaces, with an abundant employee pool, surrounded by entertainment and dining options for their employees and guests.

As a segue, employees love to have an assortment of lunch options, all within walking distance. Hotels put visiting parents near their kids, travelers near their businesses they are calling on and accommodations for university guests. Those hotels have great occupancy stats.

The financing for the UNO project was simple, I bet the Wichita State financing is pretty simple as well. None of the building taking place currently could have been done by repurpossing an old strip mall, it takes a lot of space, the golf course made perfect sense and the fact that the ace is exploding should be enough proof that this is an important project.

You are right that the land was cheap and business wanted to take advantage of the expertise of faculty and students who could be future employees and interns. Air Bus put their engineering employees and business offices on the campus but NIAR whose faculty expertise they utilize from the university is located several miles away with a runway located adjacent to their building. Additionally, WSU Tech who has students who will graduate with certificates to work at aircraft facilities is located in several facilities around Wichita (a strip mall that has been virtually abandoned, and East High School where high school students are able to attend classes).

Koch Industries has always been a local employer who has hired hundreds of business employees from WSU.

The one advantage that our state government has given WSU (because they were sold by our President that WSU should be an economic driver in South Central Kansas) is that students from Colorado to KC Missouri (who are on the I 70 corridor, and students from Oklahoma and Texas who are on the I35 corridor receive instate tuition. This was President Bardo's brain child and we hopefully will see future fruits in the future. President Bardo sold it on the fact that many Wichita and Kansas students were taking their state university (which is a state investment) training elsewhere to work out of state and now we are seeing kids come from other states, receive the work place training, and remain in Kansas to pay Kansas taxes. So there are benefits for the state in what is happening on the Innovation Campus.

[C0|dB|00ded]

Okay, I'll give you a little meat. I've watched in awe as the development of UNO took place. I've also followed with interest the thread on Wichita State's innovation campus. What is happenihappening at UNO is pissing off everyone in Lincoln. Everyone. UNO is supposed to be the red headed step child. The state has starved UNO. The leadership at UNO and civic leaders in Omaha said ENOUGH! They looked at what other schools were doing and came up with a plan, the state did not provide any extra money for the project. Just like WSU, building and development hadn't happened at UNO since well before 1994, when I arrived in town. UNO was a dump. I've seen photos of WSU, its always been beautiful, nit a dump, but I'll take your word for it that there hadn't been any development. My guess, the people in Lawrence and Topeka treat WSU similar to the way decision makers in Lincoln treat UNO. The innovation campus is a end around the people in Topeka and Lawrence, and I'm sure they are watching with interest and maybe some disdain.

As for UNO, land from the racetrack and abandoned executive golf course was put into a trust for the county to develop. Funny thing, the people running the trust were civic leaders with close ties to UNO. Without additional state money, UNO now had land to expand. Donors paid for the business school to be built on the new campus, and the Peter Kewitt Institute (engineering) was built. Immediately, First Data Resources moved their operation on campus to be close to the engineering school, HDR, an architectural engineering firm scrapped plans to build a new headquarters downtown and built on the campus. Kewitt also has offices on campus. Dorms were built, a student center and other amenities were built and enrollment jumped from 10,000 to 15,000 students. UNO went from a commuter school to a full on university with students from all 50 states and a large international group of students.

Pacific Mutual and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska moved their offices on campus to be close to the business school and attract interns and workers. A large apartment and condo complex now borders the east side of the new campus. All of the businesses built their own buildings and do not rent from the university. The land is held in trust and rent is paid to the trust, UNO lives rent free.

There are hotels, a gym, a movie theater and restaurants and bars. A splash pad, along with a Greenspace used as an amphitheater draws people in.

All of this was done because there was land near the campus and people with power were motivated. Wichita State had an underutilized golf course and a leader with a plan. To quote Joe Biden,, they are building bigger, better. I dont believe taxes have increased for the project and businesses are jumping at the chance to be in new, exciting spaces, with an abundant employee pool, surrounded by entertainment and dining options for their employees and guests.

As a segue, employees love to have an assortment of lunch options, all within walking distance. Hotels put visiting parents near their kids, travelers near their businesses they are calling on and accommodations for university guests. Those hotels have great occupancy stats.

The financing for the UNO project was simple, I bet the Wichita State financing is pretty simple as well. None of the building taking place currently could have been done by repurpossing an old strip mall, it takes a lot of space, the golf course made perfect sense and the fact that the ace is exploding should be enough proof that this is an important project.

Meaty! Thanks!

I wonder if UNO is doing it better if everybody is putting up their own cash. I'm not gonna complain though as the thought of us jumping 50% in enrollment would certainly be worth a lot of debt. That's amazing!

[WstateU]

Meaty! Thanks!

I wonder if UNO is doing it better if everybody is putting up their own cash. I'm not gonna complain though as the thought of us jumping 50% in enrollment would certainly be worth a lot of debt. That's amazing!

Our enrollment is over 20,000 now... of course I’m including WSU Tech.

[MoValley John]

UNO's enrollment is a bit of an enigma. All engineering students are technically UNL students. Its a redheaded stepchild thing. Their degrees come from Lincoln, they study and live on the UNO campus.

There are several architectural and engineering companies headquartered in Omaha, Kewitt, HDR, DLR to name a few. They want an engineering school in Omaha, the powers that be have refused, kind of like WSU not being allowed a medical school. So you have probably 2,000 or so UNO students counted toward the UNL census. Moral to the story, always bow down to the "flagship."

[Kung Wu]

UNO's enrollment is a bit of an enigma. All engineering students are technically UNL students. Its a redheaded stepchild thing. Their degrees come from Lincoln, they study and live on the UNO campus.

There are several architectural and engineering companies headquartered in Omaha, Kewitt, HDR, DLR to name a few. They want an engineering school in Omaha, the powers that be have refused, kind of like WSU not being allowed a medical school. So you have probably 2,000 or so UNO students counted toward the UNL census. Moral to the story, always bow down to the "flagship."

Possibly UNO's engineering program is going through an ABET accreditation process and this is a way for students to go through an accredited program in the mean time? Total guess, but just thinking out loud.

[MoValley John]

Possibly UNO's engineering program is going through an ABET accreditation process and this is a way for students to go through an accredited program in the mean time? Total guess, but just thinking out loud.

Nope, it happened before INO began expanding. UNO had zero dorms at the time and barely had a D-2 football team. When UNO started building their first dorms and added hockey, the regents reorganized and pulled the engineering program. Classes, professors and students stayed in Omaha, the engineering program was "streamlined" into UNL. It was all political and a complete land grab. UNO has been lobbying to correct this ever since. Lincoln now requires two 400 engineering courses be completed in Lincoln, every day, buses transport junior and senior students 50 miles for one class. They return to UNO for everything else. 99% of their education is in Omaha, yet they are considered UNL students. Money from the state fir those students goes to Lincoln. The whole thing is messed up.

[Kung Wu]

Nope, it happened before INO began expanding. UNO had zero dorms at the time and barely had a D-2 football team. When UNO started building their first dorms and added hockey, the regents reorganized and pulled the engineering program. Classes, professors and students stayed in Omaha, the engineering program was "streamlined" into UNL. It was all political and a complete land grab. UNO has been lobbying to correct this ever since. Lincoln now requires two 400 engineering courses be completed in Lincoln, every day, buses transport junior and senior students 50 miles for one class. They return to UNO for everything else. 99% of their education is in Omaha, yet they are considered UNL students. Money from the state fir those students goes to Lincoln. The whole thing is messed up.

That's awful.

[SHOCKvalue]

The UNO vs UNL dynamic is not 100% analogous to the WSU vs KU dynamic. We’ve been crapped on plenty by KU over the decades, but we’re not subservient to them like UNO is to UNL. We’re two schools out of a six school (sorta seven) regents system; we’re not KU’s Wichita campus. Sure they have some upper hands of power/influences, but we are each relatively independent.

And I would anticipate our Innovation Campus will always be considerably different than what has occurred around UNO. Ours will most likely always be heavily academic/industry centered. I would be shocked if the entertainment stuff will ever fully blossom at our IC. UNO is generally surrounded by a much nicer part of town. WSU is surrounded by the hood on two sides, and arguably more of the same/similar on the other two.

[WstateU]

The UNO vs UNL dynamic is not 100% analogous to the WSU vs KU dynamic. We’ve been crapped on plenty by KU over the decades, but we’re not subservient to them like UNO is to UNL. We’re two schools out of a six school (sorta seven) regents system; we’re not KU’s Wichita campus. Sure they have some upper hands of power/influences, but we are each relatively independent.

And I would anticipate our Innovation Campus will always be considerably different than what has occurred around UNO. Ours will most likely always be heavily academic/industry centered. I would be shocked if the entertainment stuff will ever fully blossom at our IC. UNO is generally surrounded by a much nicer part of town. WSU is surrounded by the hood on two sides, and arguably more of the same/similar on the other two.

Good points, but houses are currently being purchased to expand the buffer area on two sides (north & south). I believe the ‘facts’ you mentioned have always stunted WSU’s growth. The Bardo arrived and said, ‘F’ it, “ain’t no mountain high enough, we will change the perception. We desperately need the next Bardo. I said it before, thank God we have John Tomblin... he’s currently the ‘BIG MAN’ on campus.

[MoValley John]

The dynsmics are always going to be different, but similar. Being governed by the same board of regents is while the structure is different, the power dynamic is very similar. Sort of like the difference between a wholly owned subsidiary compared vs. a division. At the end of the day, the same person, or people make the decisions for both.