10-10-2011 Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications & Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564 or Geri Hathaway, Director of Ignition Park, 261-3184

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The Redevelopment Commission meets at 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 13th-floor conference room at the County-City Building, 227 W. Jefferson Blvd. "If we expect to attract innovative and entrepreneurial businesses, we must act in a similar fashion," said Geri Hathaway, Ignition Park director, who is leading the strategic planning process for the technology park. "Approving this next step in the process to develop Ignition Park, as a park differentiated from other technology parks, will move us forward in that direction." Design work for Phase IB infrastructure would include: • New roadways connecting from four sides of the site to a center roundabout with associated pedestrian walks,rain gardens, street lights and signage. • Two pedestrian green boulevards from the center of the site to the northeast and northwest. • A storm-water management system, including rain gardens, canals, a retention basin, wells and pumping facilities. • Utilities (including power, lighting, communications, sewer and water) • A central plaza with green space and parking. Data Realty LLC is expected to break ground for construction of a world-class data center later this year. In addition to the Phase IA infrastructure improvements in July,the Redevelopment Commission also unanimously approved a contract to sell a five-acre site to Data Realty for $131,250. The South Bend company plans to build a $IO-million data center near Transpo's fast-in-the-nation, LEED Platinum-designated transit facility. The private company will employ 15 employees at opening. Total employment is expected to grow to 30 employees when the facility is expanded to 100,000 square feet. Data Realty has agreed not to seek any real property tax abatement. Projections of their annual taxes on the initial building are $273,000 per year. Data Realty, a startup company based at Innovation Park at Notre Dame, announced in February that it will break ground this year for a Tier III data center serving small to mid- sized businesses in South Bend and throughout the Midwest. Construction may take about nine to 12 months. Ignition Park, together with the 12-acre Innovation Park next to the University of Notre Dame campus, constitutes South Bend's dual-site, state-certified technology park. Originally designated with 83 acres, Ignition Park is being expanded by City planners to incorporate as many as 140 acres of developable land near downtown South Bend. Ignition Park seeks to attract a variety of innovative companies, especially high-tech and research-based businesses. Some ventures under development at Innovation Park at Notre Dame are expected to put down roots and grow at Ignition Park. Ignition Park is generally bounded by Sample Street on the north, Lafayette Boulevard on the east, Indiana Avenue on the south and Chapin Street/Prairie Avenue on the west.