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Nebraska State Fair Moving to Accommodate University Research Park

April 30, 2008

Urban universities often have to cope with issues of land scarcity unique to their high density settings. In many cases, it’s because of their own success as an attractive magnet for other activities. The result? Major expansions can take years of negotiation and planning – and top dollar – to accomplish. In addition, tensions with neighbors and community sometimes arise over new development or incompatible land use. Some municipalities may struggle in a love-hate relationship with the colleges, welcoming the above-average wages of academic employment and accompanying economic growth, yet fretting over losing tax base as schools acquire more land.

Rarely does a large piece of land exist in close proximity to an urban university that is both available and affordable – land providing the academic institution and local tech-based economic development programs the room to create opportunities for future research, innovation and science-based growth.
 
Fortunately for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, one of those large tracts of marginally used land - the state fairgrounds - sits adjacent to and between the school’s two urban campuses. Once the school proposed a multi-use research park for the land, state leaders were eager and willing to help make the transfer a reality.
 
Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman recently signed a bill which allows the Nebraska State Fair to be relocated by 2010 from Lincoln to the city of Grand Island, about 90 miles west of its current location. The fairground property will be transferred to the University of Nebraska, Board of Regents, which intends to build 1.6 million sq. ft. of research and support space on the space.
 
Uprooting a tradition like the state fair, particularly in areas with strong agricultural heritages like Nebraska may seem like blasphemy, but reflects the realities brought on by decades of development.
 
Just as urban campuses are landlocked, so too are the agricultural research fields and state fairgrounds in several state capitals, making reinvestment and modernization prohibitively expensive. Land swaps or fairground relocation can bring redevelopment and growth opportunities for the universities, the fairs and expositions, and the affected communities.
 
In the Nebraska example, about $42 million in financing will be used to upgrade a site in Grand Island for future Nebraska State Fairs, with $21.5 million coming from the University of Nebraska, $8.5 million from the city of Grand Island, $5 million from the state’s cash reserve fund, and no more than $7 million from the Nebraska State Fair Board. The bill also instructs university officials to outline a master plan and a business plan for the development of the research park, which is modeled after the Centennial Campus at the University of North Carolina.
 
The final copy of the bill, as passed by Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, can be found at: http://uniweb.legislature.ne.gov/FloorDocs/Current/PDF/Final/LB1116.pdf
 
While no timeline has been set for the completed construction of the Nebraska Innovation Park, initial concept plans of the layout can be seen at: http://www.unl.edu/ucomm/chancllr/nipark/

Nebraska