Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood gains momentum

By Logan Hanson – Reporter, Milwaukee Business Journal

AT A GLANCE

• Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood partners with Kivi Bio for innovation center entrepreneurial services.

• A $23.5 million innovation center is set to open Oct. 1.

• KIN leadership aims for residential or medical development within next 18 to 24 months.

After the Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood secured its first private project last month, with Wintrust Financial Corp. announcing plans to build a State Bank of the Lakes branch in the 107-acre former Chrysler factory site, the organization’s leaders are set for more big moves.

“We’re really excited about the momentum we already have in place,” Kenosha Innovation Neighborhood President Kelly Armstrong told the Business Journal.

One of those moves: Kenosha-based life science innovation and business development firm

Kivi Bio will serve as the product and user experience expert in residence for the Kenosha Innovation Center, the 64,000-square-foot hub for startups, entrepreneurs and job training that anchors the development.

The $23.5 million building is set to open Oct. 1, Armstrong said.

In this role, Kivi Bio will provide support for initiatives such as KICstart, the innovation center’s suite of entrepreneurial services.

“We’re honored to be entrusted with this role by KIN,” Kivi Bio founder and CEO Todd Kapp said in a press release. “Together, we are building infrastructure that empowers creators, startups, and changemakers to shape bold new futures.”

The Kivi Bio partnership will help the innovation center become a standout for entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses, Armstrong said.

“We want to make sure all our startups that we work with have access to that resource,” Armstrong said. “The fact that Kivi Bio is in the life sciences space just goes to reiterate the concentration that is booming here, within the state and Southeast Wisconsin.”

Kivi Bio has helped market several biotech products including a perfusion bioreactor system for Massachusetts-based Sunflower Therapeutics, the Syn-Fill line of products for filling syringes, vials and bags by California-based Phaser Solutions and homogenizers for Italy's PSI Instruments.

As part of its grand opening Oct. 1, KIN will also announce the first tenants of the innovation center, which could come from a variety of fields, Armstrong said.

“The innovation center itself is really meant to be this hub of connectivity between existing companies, between startup companies, but between cross-industry to build cross-industry collaboration,” Armstrong said. “We want life sciences in the building, but we also want tech companies, maybe IT companies, maybe research and development companies.”

With its first public building, the LakeView Technology Academy, opening earlier this year and the first private development in the State Bank of the Lakes branch set to open next year, KIN leadership is focused on continuing to build up the neighborhood.

This will include residential projects, with the land use plan calling for a mixed-use development of about 800 to 1,100 residential units on the site, Armstrong said.

KIN leaders hope that it will see its next developments either in the residential space or the medical space, in medical services, workforce development or research, over the next 18 to 24 months, Armstrong said. With 107 acres of land, Armstrong stressed that this development will be a long-term project.

“This project could take 10, 15, 20 years to fully develop out the full 107 acres,” Armstrong said. “But we’re really excited to get those first few wins and see those private dollars being able to come in and really leverage those public dollars that have been invested.”

The overall development is expected to include technology incubators and offices, education institutions, businesses, housing and green space.