An Alton firm focused on revitalizing the Metro East town plans to develop a $21 million innovation center to house startups and later-stage companies.
AltonWorks, led by John and Jayne Simmons, on Monday said it will transform the Wedge and Elgen buildings on the 600 block of East Broadway into the Wedge Innovation Center. It is part of the firm's plan to renovate 25 historic buildings it owns in downtown Alton for uses such as offices and apartments.
The Wedge Innovation Center will include private offices, a co-working space and a fiber network, and possibly a restaurant and retail space on the center’s ground floor. Plans call for it to target companies involved in “social impact innovation,” specifically around the topics of livability, clean technology and climate technology.
The AltonWorks plan is placing an emphasis on projects that have a social impact component. In addition to the innovation center, the AltonWorks plans will include renovating a pair of buildings across the street from Wedge center for apartments, office space and an art center. In May, AltonWorks opened Flock Food Truck Park & Bar in Alton.
Simmons, CEO of AltonWorks and chairman of Alton-based law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, said the $21 million for the innovation center project will come from bank financing, private investment and historic tax credits. It has also received a $3 million grant from the State of Illinois’ Rebuild Illinois Downtowns and Main Streets Capital Program for the project.
Construction is expected to begin in October, with a projected opening date for the Wedge Innovation Center in the second quarter of 2024. BSI Constructors is the general contractor on the project and Ko and Company Inc., owned by Kiku Obata & Company, is its architect. AltonWorks estimates construction of the new innovation center will produce 106 full-time jobs.
Take a peek below at renderings for the Wedge Innovation Center and the area surrounding the project.
Wedge Innovation Center
In addition to being a home for companies, AltonWorks says the new innovation center will include job training, education and financing resources. Simmons said the center hopes to play a key role in helping companies develop and grow, suggesting the innovation center could be users of the products being created and advanced within its walls.
“We’re going to play the part of customer, whether we can or have to and need to, for those who are developing with us,” Simmons said.
Estimates provided by AltonWorks project the new center will generate 249 permanent full-time and 62 part-time jobs when it opens, with an average wage of more than $43,000 annually. AltonWorks said it believes the new center will help create economic mobility, with 20% of the projected jobs being created for those without a four-year college degree.
AltonWorks said it began conversations with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville about partnership with the public university to operate the Wedge Innovation Center.
“SIUE shares a commitment to Alton, the Metro North, Metro East, and Illinois, recognizing the tremendous power of our University to transform lives. We are proud to collaborate as an anchor partner and serve the workforce development, research and innovation needs that are central to a brighter future,” said SIUE Chancellor James Minor in a statement. “We look forward to defining our partnership with the Wedge Innovation Center."
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