Building the Rosenberg Center with Jeff Smith

In this episode, David Washburn talks with Jeff Smith, Executive Director of Research Parks at the MSU Research Foundation, about the Rosenberg Center, a new headquarters and innovation hub designed to support researchers, startups, and industry partners at Michigan State University.

Jeff discusses the vision behind the project, the growing demand for flexible startup space, and why the Foundation chose to transform an existing building into a collaborative environment for innovation. The conversation explores how the Rosenberg Center will bring together university programs, startup companies, corporate partners, and entrepreneurial support organizations while creating new opportunities for connection, events, and company growth.

David and Jeff also discuss the broader role of research parks and innovation infrastructure in supporting commercialization, the potential for a larger innovation district to emerge around the site, and the legacy of Dr. Barnett Rosenberg, whose groundbreaking research helped establish the foundation for the organization's work today.

Host: David Washburn
Guest: Jeff Smith, Executive Director of Research Parks, MSU Research Foundation
Producers: Jenna McNamara and Doug Snitgen
Music: "Devil on Your Shoulder" by Will Harrison, licensed via Epidemic Sound

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Transcript

Introduction and Guest Overview

David Washburn 0:04

My guest today is Jeff Smith, he's the Executive Director of Research Parks at the MSU Research Foundation and uh a colleague of mine for for many years here, and we talked about the um the new Rosenberg Center project, which Jeff and his team are leading. Um I hope you enjoy this, its a new facility that we're going to be uh investing in and building. It's gonna be very exciting in the future. Enjoy this conversation with me and Jeff.

David Washburn 0:44

Welcome back to the MSU Research Foundation podcast. I'm Dave Washburn, I'm the CEO of the MSU Research Foundation. Today, uh our guest is Jeff Smith. Jeff is the Executive Director of Research Parks within our organization, and we're here to talk about some exciting news. Hey, Jeff, welcome back.

Jeff Smith 1:00

Hey, thank you for having me.

David Washburn 1:01

Uh you were, I think, our first guest when we first started this endeavor maybe a year ago. So um in the meantime, you've been very busy, and we've made an announcement that I thought it'd be fun to talk about. It's the Rosenberg Center. Um, and so I wanted to talk through some of the headlines on that and um what it is and what we're doing.

Jeff Smith 1:21

Sounds

Why the Rosenberg Center Matters

Jeff Smith 1:22

great.

David Washburn 1:22

I think about this in a lot of different areas. Um you wrote a nice uh op-ed piece um that was recently published in uh the Lansing State Journal, and it talked about spaces for entrepreneurship. So in addition to capital and uh talent and people, startup companies need spaces, and um and that's what this is really about new space. So give me a little um headline uh overview of of the Rosenberg Center.

Jeff Smith 1:53

Yeah, so it's been in the making for several years now, um and really in the making for over a decade. We've been providing space in the region for startup companies in this uh arena. So office space, typically not necessarily lab users going to be in this building, but office space, uh we've been providing that space for quite a while, and we're finding that the demand is continuing to maintain and increase uh for that type of space. So this is not your uh typical real estate play. This is not typical real estate office. This is bespoke programming and uh event and um you know flexible space designed around the companies that we're hoping to pursue. The demand that we've seen happen over the last 10 years is you know filling about 6,800 square feet of space in the Technology Innovation Center, and now we're going to 68,000, which is really amazing. It's really quite amazing that it's uh you know a tenfold increase in demand.

Location, Partners, and Building Tenants

David Washburn 2:56

Um let's let's hit some facts real quick. So um this is a new facility, new to us. What where is it located? What's the address? Yeah, and uh what neighborhood is it in here in East Lansing?

Jeff Smith 3:07

Yeah, it's at 195 Crescent Road, it's in the south end of campus. Uh Spartan Village as most people remember it as. Um, but it's the really the south end of campus, just past the tracks by the Amtrak station.

David Washburn 3:18

Okay. And which side of uh Harrison? That is on the east side of Harrison. Okay. It's across from the data center.

Jeff Smith 3:26

It is. It's right across from the data center.

David Washburn 3:28

Excellent. And so um I know we're gonna move in there, so it's gonna be the headquarters of the Foundation and um also some of our subsidiary companies and and our partners on on campus. Who's all going in?

Jeff Smith 3:41

Yeah, so it'll be us at 10,000 square feet or so, and our 50 or so uh employees, and then MSU Innovation Center, MSU Technologies, MSU Business Connect will move in as well. They'll take about 10,000 square feet. Uh MSU Data Center has staff. There's actually no office space in the MSU data center, so their staff will be in our building. Yep. Uh and then we're looking at uh organizations like Fraunhofer USA to take occupancy in the building.

David Washburn 4:06

Yeah. And then our other subsidiaries include Spartan Innovations, Red Cedar Ventures, Michigan Rise, and the newly formed Henry Ford Health MSU Innovation Fund is also gonna operate out of there, but there's space for others. Um what else is gonna happen inside

Creating an Innovation Hub and Event Space

David Washburn 4:23

this building?

Jeff Smith 4:24

Yeah, so in addition to the office space and the incremental um, you know, startup space, it'll have event space, which is extremely needed in our region. Um for us to be able to hold events of 200 to 300 people. Um that's a it's a huge win for us to have that available in this building. Uh so there will be a ground floor and second floor uh addition on the building and the west side of the building, uh allowing us to have those types of events. There will be community gathering space as well added in that same addition. Uh and that really opens a door and creates that uh ecosystem hub that we're really hoping to attain with this building.

David Washburn 5:02

So there's currently um the the building has been around for a long time, is that right? And uh what was it in previous lives and and um talk more about that

Adaptive Reuse and Project Timeline

David Washburn 5:13

addition?

Jeff Smith 5:13

Yeah, so it was originally constructed in the 1970s, renovated again in the 90s, and then again in the 2000s. So originally it was uh headquarters for the MSU Federal Credit Union. Okay, and then as it progressed, uh credit union moved into the northern interior of East Lancing, and then IBM reoccupied the building. Okay, and they were there with their global delivery services for about four or five years. Um they moved out, and MSU's IT services and MSU data center team moved into it, and they've been occupying it since. Uh so it's really has um many lives over the last uh several decades.

David Washburn 5:49

So one term you've used with me over the last few months that I really like a lot is this sort of adaptive reuse. And to me, when I think about that, it's um you know, I think we originally wanted to build something brand new. Uh pricing got um uh a little too high for us, and so we pivoted to to this approach. So we're taking an existing building and doing some work on it.

Jeff Smith 6:16

Yeah, I think uh, you know, there are so many already constructed and already ready-to-go buildings that need some refreshing. Yeah. Uh and considering all the elements of building new right now, the market just isn't really the right time for it. And uh reusing this building does a number of things. It takes an existing footprint, puts it back into practical use. But two, it allows for us to move faster. So if you look at the timeline, it's very aggressive for us uh reoccupying the building. It'll be the end of October uh for the first wave and then into spr uh spring of 2027 for the final wave. So I mean it's a very, very aggressive timeline. And then there's no way we could have done that with a new build.

David Washburn 7:04

Yeah, yeah. Um the old credit union had some uh some drive-through bays uh for remember the old days when you would go go banking and uh drive in and and shoot the canister through the pneumatic tubes and uh send your checks up for deposit. But that piece of the building is is going to be removed and and that's where the addition is going, right? Can you

Mass Timber and Sustainable Design

David Washburn 7:27

talk more about the addition?

Jeff Smith 7:28

Yeah, the um we're we're picturing an 8,000 square foot or so addition on the west side of the building. It'll be two-story and it'll be built out of mass timber. Nice. So we are receiving a mass timber um enabling grant um which will help us to make this a demonstration site for mass timber, which MSU is uh kind of a global leader in that field. So it'll be it'll be great that we have that as a demonstration opportunity. But uh yeah, it taking off the porticos and the drive-throughs um will allow us to extend into the parking lot a bit to the west and still maintain uh really a nice facade as you're coming in and visiting the building, um at the same time reducing our carbon

Collaboration, Startup Space, and Community

Jeff Smith 8:09

footprint.

David Washburn 8:10

And do you expect um drop-in space for our friends and colleagues and partners who want to come in and maybe spend the morning there or spend a day there, take some meetings, do some work, uh, and then get out? Is is that part of the types of activity that would happen in that that new addition you're talking about?

Jeff Smith 8:29

Yeah, and not only is it uh something that we are hoping happens, but we're kind of insisting on it. It's we're really hoping that um you know this becomes that area uh for anyone in the field, whether it's risk capital or startups or entrepreneurial support organizations, regional partners or other, uh, for them to make this a functional office for themselves and come in and grab a coffee and run into each other. Yeah. Uh, because that's really where the innovation comes from.

David Washburn 8:56

Yeah, yeah, you've used that term a lot, uh, collisions and and just um yeah seeing seeing one another and and having the opportunity to connect on a human scale versus um doing everything through Zoom or doing th you know through through video. Um it's really exciting and it's it's gonna be cool. The renderings are are cool too, that um uh this space is gonna be uh really neat. And then will will there be spaces for um startups and incubations where you know folks can actually come in and have a have a dedicated office or um space in there where they can actually close and lock the door and it's theirs versus sort of more um drop-in, drop-in space.

Jeff Smith 9:38

Yeah, and that's by design. I mentioned it earlier that um we've we've kind of perfected or at least refined that type of space so that it's the right size for a one or two-person company. Um gives them a mailing address, allows them to connect with the university very quickly, allows students to come over and work in those spaces if they need it get an internship with those companies. Uh, but yeah, that there will be drop-in space that's more hotelling, but then there will be a closed door option for anybody that wants to rent an office.

David Washburn 10:05

Yeah.

Research Parks and the Innovation Ecosystem

David Washburn 10:06

We've been deliberate and talked about how this um Rosenberg Center will fit into a grander scheme of of other real estate assets that you have led the charge on, uh whether it's uh the Alliance Incubator, whether it's the Van Camp Incubator, whether it's um uh other facilities that we we manage and and operate. But can you talk about that on a broader scale in terms of um um well clearly Greater Lansing, East Lansing and Greater Lansing has these assets, but then we've got other facilities where in other places where we do business.

Jeff Smith 10:43

Yeah, so we do business where the research is typic typically concentrated. So where there's an opportunity for innovation to occur, we should have uh the availability of space for that innovation to land and grow. And there is a high concentration in Lansing because that's where the concentration of research is. Yeah. Um the presence is that we have in Grand Rapids and in Detroit is correlating with the amount of activity and research or innovation that's happening in those spaces. In Lansing, we're finding that there's we're kind of a little behind um our peers globally and nationally. Um what we're what we're really hoping to do is continue to keep pace with what research dollars we're seeing coming in, going out of the university compared to the innovation support that should be in place. You kind of alluded to it, but the the area around this building, the Rosenberg Center, there's room for growth. And there is there's the flexibility of having maybe an entire innovation district uh unfold in front of us, uh TechSmith being kind of an anchor to the south, and then this building be an anchor to the northeast. We could really start to see something take shape in between.

David Washburn 11:55

Yeah,

Supporting Corporate Engagement at MSU

David Washburn 11:56

and I think that plays in nicely to some of the ideas talking um you know at the university about trying to have a new and a renewed focus on corporate engagement um and and how do we how do we work uh to provide um provide opportunities for faculty and students and and other organizations to engage with um employers. How do we prep students for those employers and how do we do uh projects and programs with them? How do they get access with labs? So this is a great story, I think, as part of a broader mission.

Jeff Smith 12:31

Yeah, and I hope that the university is starting to see that this is a resource for them ultimately. Yeah. Um the the catalytic components of what we're doing at the Foundation are obviously academic development for the state, but it's also a huge resource for the university to leverage. Um we have MSU research happening in some of our buildings. Uh I don't know that it would be happening otherwise or in you know campus-wide spaces. Yeah. Uh so we're really, really trying to create that third space for the university to be more flexible and more nimble and allow for more innovation to occur.

David Washburn 13:06

Who was Barnett

Honoring Barnett Rosenberg

David Washburn 13:07

Rosenberg?

Jeff Smith 13:08

Um Barnett Rosenberg was a scientist here at Michigan State uh decades ago, helped uh shepherd in the discovery of cisplatin and carboplatin, the blockbuster cancer drug that helped seed the Research Foundation in its infancy. Um we really wouldn't be the organization we are uh without it. Um the the co-pilot or co-PI of that cancer drug foundation was uh Loretta Van Camp, and so naming the Van Camp building in her honor uh was a great first step, and now naming the Rosenberg Center after Barnett uh is a kind of a testament to our foundation's foundings.

David Washburn 13:53

Well, this is so exciting. Um tell me more about the timeline.

Construction Timeline and What's Next

Jeff Smith 13:57

Yeah, so we are in the end of June 2026. Uh we would see fencing going up and trucks rolling for July, the mid mid-July of 2026. All right. We will start to see uh the the actual ground move uh sometime in July as well, July, August. But we will actually have occupancy for the first phase of tenants sometime in November, October, November of this year. Uh and then full occupancy and full completion by the end of spring of 2027. Okay. It's a it if for those that are listening and for those following online, it's an aggressive timeline. We would never have been able to do this if we didn't have uh you know a canvas to work with already.

David Washburn 14:45

Yeah,

Closing Remarks

David Washburn 14:46

yeah. Well, it's very exciting. Jeff, congratulations on the um this initiative, the Rosenberg Center. It's a new 68,000 square foot building in and near the former Spartan Village site, named after Barnett Rosenberg, and uh it's gonna be our headquarters and the headquarters for many other places, and also a facility that entrepreneurs and corporate partners of the university can come to use, and um very much a flexible and modern workplace that um we're very, very excited about, and uh just congratulations to you. I know there's a lot of work ahead, but um it's a great announcement, and um I think um folks who are listening who are interested to learn more can track us down on our website. Um we'd love to show you the space and love to keep in touch with you about it.

Jeff Smith 15:34

Absolutely. And it's a great opportunity for not only the university and the Research Foundation, but it's it's a quite an honor to be a part of it.

David Washburn 15:42

Yeah. Thank you. My guest today has been Jeff Smith. He's the Executive Director of Research Parks at the MSU Research Foundation, leading the charge on the new Rosenberg Center, which uh is a new project that we just announced. Congratulations, Jeff.

Jeff Smith 15:56

Thank you. Thank you, for having me.