CUMMINGSRESEARCHPARK
ABOUT THE CRP MASTER PLAN This master plan, the first comprehensive plan for CRP in nearly 40 years, carries forward a vision established by Milton Cummings, the park’s namesake, to reserve land for scientific industry adjacent to higher education and linked to the Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center. The Master Plan document describes the research and development context, the growth opportunity and vision for the park, and the organizational strategy of the plan.
CREDITS CITY OF HUNTSVILLE
CUMMINGS RESEARCH PARK BOARD
The Honorable Thomas “Tommy” Battle, Jr, Mayor John Hamilton, City Administrator Shane Davis, Director of Urban Development Dennis Madsen, Manager of Urban & Long Range Planning Jim McGuffey, Manager of Planning Services
Charles Grainger (Chairman), CG Technologies Nancy Archuleta, Retired, Mevatec (BAE Systems) Sheila Brown, Quantitech, Inc., CEO Ron Gray, Thompson Gray, Inc., President Kim Lewis, PROJECTXYZ, Inc, CEO Gripp Luther, Samples Properties, Principal Mike Stanfield, Retired, Ducommun Miltec Councilman Mark Russell, City of Huntsville, City Council District 2 John Hamilton, City of Huntsville, Office of the Mayor, City Administrator Janet Watson, City of Huntsville, Huntsville Planning Commission, Chairman
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF HUNTSVILLE/MADISON COUNTY Chip Cherry, President & CEO Lucia Cape, Senior Vice President, Economic Development, Industry Relations & Workforce Erin Koshut, Cummings Research Park Director Pammie Jimmar, Small Business & Events Director Emma Williams, Small Business & Events Specialist Mike Gillespie, Special Advisor
CONTACT Erin Koshut, Cummings Research Park Director Email: ekoshut@hsvchamber.org Phone: 256-535-2086
Address: Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County 225 Church Street NW, Huntsville, Alabama 35801
BEYOND A RESEARCH PARK.
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OUR VISION
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OUR TRACK RECORD
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OUR OPPORTUNITIES
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OUR PLAN
BUILDING THE FUTURE BIT BY BIT. PROPELLING SCIENCE SINCE 1962. GLOBAL FOCUS POWERED LOCALLY. HARNESSING THE POWER OF PLACE.
Redstone Arsenal
United States Space and Rocket Center
Cummings Research Park
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OUR VISION
We’re building a better launch pad. BUILDING THE FUTURE BIT BY BIT.
The Cummings Research Park (CRP) — its base of knowledge, capabilities, high-tech businesses, and ongoing research and development activities — is a strategic global asset for handling complex scientific and technological challenges. CRP is the proving ground for the most ambitious goals of our society, from yesterday’s lunar landings to tomorrow’s Mars settlement. The history and legend of CRP began in the first golden age of space exploration following World War II, spurred by President Kennedy’s vision for human footsteps on the moon and Dr. Wernher von Braun’s team of elite scientists. However, the long-term success of CRP could not have been possible without the sustained investment of grit and know-how for 60 years by this small community to make things possible in Huntsville that seem impossible elsewhere. While CRP is driven by science, it is truly powered by the people of Huntsville. This master plan, the first for CRP in nearly 40 years, carries forward a vision established by Milton Cummings, the park’s namesake, to reserve land for scientific industry adjacent to higher education and linked to the Redstone Arsenal and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. This plan extends his vision to further curate an ecosystem of creativity and entrepreneurship in any advanced scientific or technological endeavor, from the simple imaginative spark in the mind of a graduate student to the complex workings of a Fortune 500 company, and everything in between.
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Huntsville is the best. But don’t take our word for it... ACCORDING TO A 2015 STUDY BY BLOOMBERG THAT ANALYZED LABOR DEPARTMENT STATISTICS:
“Huntsville, nestled in a hilly region in the northern part of the state, turns out to be a great place to recruit high-tech workers. As of May 2014, 16.7 percent of workers in the metropolitan area held a job in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics—STEM, for short—making it the third most technical workforce in the country […]” IN ADDITION, AFTER COMPARING THE ATYPICALLY HIGH SALARIES THAT ARE PAID FOR STEM JOBS IN HUNTSVILLE WITH THE CITY’S LOW COST OF LIVING, THE ONLINE FINANCIAL SERVICE NERDWALLET RANKED HUNTSVILLE THE BEST CITY IN THE COUNTRY FOR STEM GRADS WITH THIS TO SAY:
“Huntsville is the STEM heart of the South. The metro area’s first overall rank on this list is powered by its prominent STEM industry and high salary relative to a low cost of living. Huntsville, which also ranked highly in NerdWallet’s “Best Places for Engineers” and “Best Places for Tech Jobs,” is home to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, the Army Aviation and Missile Command and Cummings Research Park, the second-largest research park in the world. The University of Alabama in Huntsville is also a major center for technology research —over half of the school’s graduates earn degrees in engineering or science.” DID WE MENTION THAT HUNTSVILLE PUT A MAN ON THE MOON? THAT WAS JUST THE START.
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To fulfill the vision for Cummings Research Park, this plan focuses on creating intentionally designed settings and supportive programs to nurture innovation and success at every step in the lifecycle of a business by better connecting the people and ideas that foster research and science. The goal of this plan is to deepen the value of Cummings Research Park by engaging anchor institutions and serving as the home for entrepreneurial firms, essential networking and broader placemaking activities. This plan is guided by knowledge of global trends and initiatives in research communities and recognizes CRP’s long standing success in attracting successful companies, its co-location with the University of Alabama in Huntsville, with its federal lab partners, and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a leading center for genomics. A high performing innovation ecosystem depends upon creating a critical mass of companies in close proximity, which profit from local knowledge flows, skilled workers, and regional supplier networks. In today’s world of open innovation—where access to the best ideas needs to flow freely between established companies, emerging companies, university research centers, nonprofit organizations and federal research labs—having all of these key players represented in one location generates substantial economic value. Still, the success of a research park is largely the result of its creating a signature placebased platform for innovation. Creating a signature place that fosters such a unique and creative ecosystem requires leveraging both the character of Huntsville, its dynamic business and cultural environment, and the existing strengths of CRP with strategic enhancements that introduce new services tailored to diverse businesses and their world class employees, concentrate activity throughout the park in human-scaled public spaces, and give definition to sub-districts of the park that reflect the varied needs and aspirations of advanced scientific and technological companies of any size or stage of growth. The ultimate goal of this plan in every aspect is guaranteed long-term value for businesses, employees, visitors and, by extension, the community of Huntsville as a whole.
WADE MOUNTAIN NATURE PRESERVE
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CUMMINGS RESEARCH PARK MONTE SANO STATE PARK AND PRESERVE INDIAN CREEK GREENWAY
DOWNTOWN HUNTSVILLE HUNTSVILLE BOTANICAL GARDEN JOHN HUNT PARK
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REDSTONE ARSENAL
BLEVINS GAP PRESERVE
HUNTSVILLE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
TENNESSEE RIVER 05
Cummings Research Park, Redstone Arsenal, and Downtown Huntsville combine to drive the region’s economy and culture.
The foundation of Huntsville’s significant research and development base is the presence of its federal labs operating at Redstone Arsenal. They are the basis upon which both industry and university research and development have taken root in the Huntsville region; their influence can be felt in innovation-led activities, including space operations and missile defense, intelligence and homeland defense, logistics, and the application of sciences and technologies into military systems and equipment. This foundation, with partnerships at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and industry in CRP, is leading to economic growth in research and development that far outpaces national averages and is showing signs of technology transfer that propels start-ups. However, the strength of Cummings Research Park is underpinned by a larger ecosystem of business, lifestyle and cultural amenities that make Huntsville one of the most dynamic cities in the Southeast.
DOWNTOWN HUNTSVILLE 06
NASA MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER AT REDSTONE ARSENAL
We’re connecting to research at every stage in Huntsville.
THORNTON RESEARCH PARK
U.S. SPACE & ROCKET CENTER
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OUR TRACK RECORD
The path to rocket city. PROPELLING SCIENCE SINCE 1962.
Cummings Research Park grew to prominence in symbiosis with the City’s aerospace engineering and military-industrial community. It was both a product of and a catalyst for development in Huntsville from the moment Milton Cummings and Dr. Wernher von Braun conceived of the idea of a high-tech university-industry partnership to support the space program. The result of that partnership was named for Cummings, and CRP continues to honor its founders through the merging of academic and scientific research with engineering. The entrepreneurial spirit of Huntsville’s residents helped propel it from a cotton terminal to Rocket City. From pioneering aviation work around crop dusting, to building NASA manufacturing capacity in an old cotton mill, Huntsville has always blended the can-do attitude of the frontier with the spirit of curiosity that drives innovation. That spirit lives on in the city today.
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2050 and Beyond... Cummings Research Park soars to new heights.
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Huntsville’s trajectory to the lunar mission and beyond did not emerge from thin air. It was the foundation of early experiments in aviation by William Livingston Quick that paved the way for more interest in the business of flight. A grassy landing field for barnstormers led to the development of the Huntsville Airport in 1941, and then to the Jetplex Industrial Park in 1967. Today’s Huntsville International Airport continues that tradition as a potential home for private space flight.
Municipal airports were not the only air terminals in the city. In 1943, Redstone Army Airfield was built on arsenal land to test incendiary bombs and other explosive devices used in World War II. The end of the war brought the threat of sale, but the influence of Senator John Sparkman and Redstone Arsenal’s extensive physical plant, including the airfield, convinced Army brass to relocate ordnance research operations from Fort Bliss, Texas to Huntsville. With it came a team of 110 German scientists involved in the development of the V2 rocket.
DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN & PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY 11
CUMMINGS RESEARCH PARK WEST 12
Today’s barnstormers are no longer up in the air. But with the rise of civilian and military demand for unmanned aerial systems, Huntsville drone engineers are busy at work designing the next generation of vehicles to revolutionize business. The V2 rocket experts transplanted to Huntsville in 1949 were responsible for the development of modern ballistic missiles including Redstone and Nike. But Dr. Wernher von Braun, the team lead, had always justified weapons system work as a pretext for advancing manned space flight. In 1960 his objective came true. Alarmed by the Soviet launch of Sputnik, American leaders resolved to compete for dominance of space and created NASA as a civilian agency to lead the way. Redstone’s rocket facilities were transferred to the new Marshall Space Flight Center to be the propulsion lab for NASA. The 1960s were legendary years for Huntsville. Adaptation of the Redstone rocket for the Mercury missions led to Saturn development, satellite launches, the Gemini program, and eventually to the Apollo missions. Yet it was not solely a Marshall effort. To provide the technology and hardware needed to land a human on the moon, Von Braun and Brown Engineering president Milton Cummings approached the City of Huntsville in 1962 with the idea of creating a high-tech research district—essentially a private sector complement to the NASA facility. The city responded by rezoning 3,000 acres of undeveloped land, and Brown Engineering became the first official resident of Cummings Research Park with a purchase of 150 acres along Sparkman Drive.
Building on a historic foundation “We’re on a journey to Mars and, if you don’t believe us, look at what you see back behind us today,” Acting Marshall Center Director Todd May told reporters gathered for the first look at the (static test) stand. “This is a tangible example of real progress to building the most powerful rocket ever built to take humans back out into deep space ... where we haven’t been for 40 years.” NASA’s preparation is also continuing to return Americans to space in American spaceships. Applications have just opened for the astronaut class of 2017, Bolden said, and he urged Americans to “go to usajobs.com, and you can apply. We’re looking for people from all walks of life.” —LEE ROOP, “NASA CHANGES HUNTSVILLE SKYLINE WITH SOARING NEW SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM TEST STAND.” AL.COM, DECEMBER 15, 2015
Brown Engineering was followed by other aerospace contractors like Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman; and in 1969, by the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Today, CRP continues to support NASA initiatives like the Space Launch System being developed for a manned mission to Mars.
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OUR OPPORTUNITY
We’re ready for the next generation. GLOBAL FOCUS POWERED LOCALLY.
Cummings Research Park illustrates the principle that innovation-led development does not happen just anywhere. It happens in places where there is a supportive ecosystem around which technology-based firms can aggregate and benefit from access to technology, talent and capital. This innovation ecosystem generates economic growth through an interconnected value chain of private resources and public economic development services. These help translate the region’s research and development activities—and the talent associated with research and development —into a dynamic environment in which to foster new enterprise development, grow existing industry, and attract new businesses. A complete ecosystem fosters a diverse and dynamic R&D activity, provides settings for the commercialization of technology and subsequent entrepreneurial development, and has the right infrastructure to facilitate new or expanding business clusters, and ultimately mature industries. The cycle is complete when industry promotes new R&D.
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CRP has been to the next frontier and made global history. Here’s how we’ll do it again.
Huntsville has the ultimate maker culture: its innovation ecosystem is the perfect foundation for developing new industries that are on the leading edge of science. The anchor of Huntsville’s significant research and development activity is the presence of its federal labs operating at Redstone Arsenal. While these are mission-driven, they are the basis upon which both industry and university research and development has taken root in the Huntsville region. This has been the impetus and continued catalyst for a robust university and industry research and development base, particularly with the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). Combined, these institutions have contributed to the development of Huntsville’s core research and innovation competencies, which emerged from the work on rocket propulsion, space systems, and information technology.
OVER TIME, HUNTSVILLE HAS DEVELOPED THE ULTIMATE MAKER CULTURE.
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OUR CORE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION COMPETENCIES
SPACE SCIENCE/ WEATHER
APPLIED OPTICS
ENGINEERED SYSTEMS MODELING & TESTING
CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS SECURITY
ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND GENOMICS
BIOTECHNOLOGY
INTEGRATED ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS COMPONENTS, SENSORS, AND ASSEMBLY AEROSPACE AND MISSILE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
COMPUTATIONAL MODELING, SIMULATION, AND CYBER DEFENSE
HIGH PERFORMANCE MATERIALS
Today, we lead industries with our core research and innovation competencies. Tomorrow, with diversification in our science competencies and new opportunities in investment and partnerships, we will pioneer growth in several new areas. 17
OUR INNOVATION-LED GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
SPACE PLATFORMS, PAYLOADS & LOGISTICS
INTEGRATED REMOTE SENSING PLATFORMS
CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS SECURITY
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PRECISION ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCES
DEFENSE SYSTEMS OPTIMIZATION
COMPLEX SYSTEMS SIMULATION TOOLS
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND GENOMICS
Advancing science by bringing together industry drivers and core competencies In the past, the Huntsville region and Cummings Research Park both have benefitted from growth in broad industry clusters, including aerospace /defense, information technology, advanced manufacturing and life sciences. Going forward, CRP’s positioning must be recalibrated around a more nuanced understanding of converging technologies and emerging multi-disciplinary industry sectors. Seven innovation-led growth opportunities that combine well-positioned industry drivers with core competencies found in the Huntsville region could be advanced by CRP leadership through its efforts in proactive marketing, supporting business expansion, and new company formation. These seven growth opportunities include: SPACE PLATFORMS, PAYLOADS AND LOGISTICS: Electronics, materials, and systems engineering to design and assemble space launch vehicles and satellite platforms that carry highly specialized instruments and sensors. Utilizes all competencies that built Huntsville’s reputation and offers good growth potential. INTEGRATED REMOTE SENSING SYSTEMS: Self-contained, highly compatible, modular, wireless sensors applicable to defense system and commercial products, optimized for specific market applications. Huntsville has notable industry strength in optics and microelectronics manufacturing, with experience in supporting modular sensor unit projects for military clients. PRECISION ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE: Modeling tools and other products that can provide decision support capabilities to a wide variety of markets ranging from agriculture to cargo transportation. Strong local research
focus with UAH’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences as well as several supportive research centers. COMPLEX SYSTEMS SIMULATION TOOLS: Next generation simulation software tools that can save time and resources in creating virtual analyses of real-world processes. A sizable and fast growing industry presence in Huntsville involved in complex systems modeling, often involving physics-based simulation for systems engineering and customized software solutions for a variety of government clients. CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS SECURITY: Solutions for securing device hardware and infrastructure that manages public utilities, transportation, medical care, and military systems in addition to industrial automation. Many local companies with relevant expertise through involvement in military systems contracts; presence of the UAH Center for Cybersecurity Research and Education. DEFENSE SYSTEMS OPTIMIZATION: Systems engineering expertise to redesign and re-optimize aging, outdated, or ineffective military hardware and systems for changing missions or to extend economic life. Companies involved in defense systems optimization are among our nation’s largest defense contractors, most with a significant presence at CRP. BIOTECHNOLOGY AND GENOMICS: Genetic screening of biomarkers to determine a variety of diagnosis and treatment options personalized to an individual patient’s genetic profile. Driven primarily by the presence of nonprofit HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, a world-class research institute and campus with more than 30 resident life sciences companies. 19
Partnership Opportunities
The exciting range of new entrepreneurial development efforts taking shape suggests that Huntsville is up to the challenge of strengthening its innovation ecosystem with initiatives like coordination and scale-up of entrepreneurial programs, cultivating early-stage venture capital, and developing multi-tenant and co-location space. The question is how to perfect these efforts to offer a high-value continuum of services that meet the needs of entrepreneurial, innovation businesses. Cummings Research Park will be part of the solution through its own operations and programmatic efforts to support the growing entrepreneurial development effort, as well as to help pursue the targeted growth opportunities discussed in this section. With its heritage of creating sophisticated high-technology products that have impacted society, Huntsville has organically grown what could be considered the “ultimate maker culture” largely through government supported programs. What is taking place now is the emergence of a wide and increasing number of support services and capabilities for growing entrepreneurial, innovation-led businesses. With a few notable exceptions, such as Silicon Valley and Austin, the entrepreneurial climate necessary to generate high-growth enterprises in most communities has not developed fully and sustainably through market forces alone. In Huntsville, however, there is a shared vision and growing range of efforts focused on the need to raise the region’s entrepreneurial development performance. Some of the more unconventional include: HUDSONALPHA: A collaborative campus offering life sciences startups office and lab space within a growing bioscience community of researchers and companies. Includes bioscience networking and investing opportunities, along with shared amenities. BIZTECH: Huntsville’s longest-running incubator, positioning itself as a hub for coordination across the community’s innovation ecosystem. It is collaborating with the City of Huntsville in promoting entrepreneurial
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networking activities such as a week-long Innovate Huntsville. WOMEN’S BUSINESS CENTER OF NORTH ALABAMA: Co-located with BizTech, providing services such as Kaufmann Foundation Fast Track. ROCKET HATCH: A virtual accelerator running business plan pitches, entrepreneurship networking events, providing mentoring, and mobilizing regional investors of early stage capital.
HOT COFFEE: An open and free series of networking events started by a former UAH professor for the technology and entrepreneurial community focused on sharing lessons learned and building contacts.
ENTREPRENEURS BRAIN TRUST: A networking program of Rocket Hatch for existing entrepreneurs, with mentored and team problem-solving. HUNTSVILLE WEST: A new co-working space located in a former public elementary school, that caters to millennial entrepreneurs.
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE
HOT COFFEE
CLINTON STREET RETAIL INCUBATOR: Offers an opportunity for new retailers to develop their marketing concepts in small increments of space in a redeveloped building downtown. LOWE MILL ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS CENTER: Located west of downtown Huntsville in a vacant former industrial building. OPEN HUNTSVILLE CO-WORKING NIGHT: A weekly networking event aimed at young professionals. 3210: A networking organization focused on bringing together the millennial start-up community.
ROCKET HATCH: WILL THIS FLY?
BIZTECH
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The lifecycle of innovation, from the germination of an idea to its global application, flows through CRP.
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE
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CUMMINGS START-UP
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CUMMINGS SCALE-UP
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CUMMINGS CORPORATE
Ideas and Passion
Entrepreneurship
Growth and Dynamism
Commercialization and Stability
SPARKMAN
Cummings Research Park has always been a product of and a catalyst for development in Huntsville by connecting people and ideas through the business of science. This master plan physically closes the gap between ideas and commercialization by creating a place for every idea, for every business and for everything needed to support a complete lifecycle of innovation. The ambition of this plan is to be both a setting and an inspiration for success.
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BRADFORD
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UNIVERSITY
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OUR PLAN
We’re creating the setting for greatness. HARNESSING THE POWER OF PLACE.
The master plan builds on the existing characteristics of CRP, particularly its form, structure and land use. If properly planned and managed, with efficient use of space, Cummings Research Park can yield unlimited development potential over the next 60 years. The question isn’t when will CRP reach its capacity; it is how will the park optimize the use of undeveloped parcels, underutilized and vacant buildings and the vast parking lots and deep buffers that exist between buildings. This plan anticipates healthy quantities of both new development, principally in the west, and urban redevelopment, in the east. Through development and infrastructural investment, CRP will strengthen its connections to the City of Huntsville and its neighbors, linking to the Indian Creek and regional greenway network, surrounding street corridors, neighboring commercial centers, and importantly to CRP’s anchors at Redstone, NASA and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Connections outward will be facilitated by transforming the open spaces of Cummings Research Park into a healthy, active landscape. This transformation will convert public and private lawns, buffers and driveways into trail networks, parks, plazas and walkable streets. CRP’s connected, human-oriented landscape will be further animated in each district by a dense development node with signature public spaces and mixed uses. The nodes will provide critical business and lifestyle services that support the diverse needs of the research park residents and visitors.
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Our Master Plan
MIDTOWN
The Master Plan cultivates interaction and collaboration while simultaneously creating an experientially unique and satisfying place to work and visit.
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DYNETICS EXPLORER BLVD
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INDIAN CREEK GREENWAY
1 Maker-Hacker Village 2 Bradford Crossing
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3 Madison Square Mall Redevelopment Interface FARROW ROAD
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41 University Corner
HUDSONALPHA
COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL
51 Waterfront Center
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6 Landmark Sites
ADTRAN EXPLORER BLVD
7 District Parks
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10 LOGICORE
8 Indian Creek Greenway Link 9 Discovery Hub 10 Explorer Hub
SLAUGHTER ROAD
DIGIUM
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JAN DAVIS DRIVE
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AEGIS
RAYTHEON
11 Boulevard Bridge 12 Sparkman Crossing 13 HudsonAlpha Campus 24
VOYAGER WAY
CRP APPLICATIONS THORNTON RESEARCH PARK
ENTERPRISE WAY
UNIVERSITY DRIVE
MADISON SQUARE MALL REDEVELOPMENT
SANDERSON ROAD
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9 DISCOVERY DRIVE
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HOLMES AVE
WYNN DRIVE
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UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE
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HOLMES AVE
LOCKHEED MARTIN
12 BRADFORD DRIVE
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ADTRAN
SWIRLL REDSTONE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION TELEDYNE BROWN ENGINEERING
RESEARCH PARK BLVD
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SPARKMAN DRIVE
TECHNOLOGY DRIVE
SHERWOOD PARK
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EAGLE DRIVE BRIDGE STREET TOWN CENTRE
CALHOUN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
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MADISON PIKE
I-565 U.S. SPACE & ROCKET CENTER
REDSTONE ARSENAL
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CUMMINGS START-UP
The Start-up District is a dense, active R&D center designed to promote the growth of new high-technology businesses during their earliest stages and cultivate a culture of grassroots experimentation and entrepreneurship in Cummings Research Park. The district leverages proximity and access to existing intuitional assets such as the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and Calhoun Community College. Redevelopment and new development within this district is driven by opportunities for adaptive re-use of existing structures and facilities. Central among the redevelopment opportunities in this District is the transformation of the former Chrysler plant into a catalytic Maker-Hacker Village with facilities, equipment and programs to incubate creativity around cyber-physical endeavors, fabrication and prototyping. The Start-up District is the most flexible, nimble, and experimental area of Cummings Research Park. It should also remain the most affordable, with a predominance of warehouse conversion to office and fabrication space. Simple, affordable space will allow the Start-up District to continually respond to the changing needs of the dynamic companies in their infancy.
MAKERSPACES
ADAPTIVE RE-USE OF BUILDINGS
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CO-WORKING SPACES
EVENTS: HACK-A-THON
TELEDYNE BROWN ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE
GREENWAY
DISTRICT PARK MAKER-HACKER VILLAGE
CALHOUN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
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U.S. SPACE & ROCKET CENTER
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CUMMINGS SCALE-UP
The Scale-up District is a dense, active and urban district designed to promote the growth of small, medium and large scientific and high-tech companies in single or multi-tenant buildings. Although limited new development opportunities exist, the long-term development of this district relies on the redevelopment of aging, outmoded and/or underutilized parcels and buildings along Bradford Drive, Wynn Drive and Research Drive. The Scale-up District benefits from its proximity to UAH and the anchors of Teledyne Brown Engineering, Lockheed Martin and the Severe Weather Institute and Radar & Lightning Laboratories (SWIRLL). Two mixed-use nodes are planned within the district, one at the corner of Bradford and Wynn, and the other in the far northwest corner of Technology Drive, adjacent to the old Madison Square Mall area and its eventual redevelopment. In these nodes, business and lifestyle services, cafĂŠs and restaurants, and limited housing will be located to support the primary science and technology focus of business in CRP. The Scale-up District will follow an urban framework of streets and blocks which are given preliminary layout by this plan, and parcel-byparcel redevelopment will occur incrementally at the pace of the market.
WET & DRY LABS
EVENTS: FOOD TRUCKS
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INCUBATORS
CENTRAL PARK SPACES
GROUND FLOOR RETAIL
MID CITY
NEIGHBORHOOD PARK NEIGHBORHOOD PARK DISTRICT PARK MADISON SQUARE INTERFACE
NEIGHBORHOOD PARK
GREENWAY
NEIGHBORHOOD PARK
BRADFORD CROSSING
GREENWAY REDSTONE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
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MIXED USE CENTER 30
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CUMMINGS CORPORATE
The Corporate District carries on the successful legacy of CRP West as a low-density, park-like environment for the orderly growth of medium-to-large, stable high-tech industries. The distinct and managed environment of the Corporate District has made it a premier address, synonymous with success, in Huntsville. This District counts among its residents some of the most important high-tech businesses from around the world. For the most part over the coming years, new development will be on previously undeveloped parcels that dot the District but are also in high concentration on the western edge of CRP. Multi-tenancy of buildings is allowable but restricted within the District. A network of parks and trails activate the landscape and a small mixed-use node is proposed near Bridge Street Town Centre.
CORPORATE FACILITIES
ACTIVE LANDSCAPES
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LIGHT INDUSTRIAL & PROTOTYPING
EVENTS: ROCKET LAUNCH
DYNETICS PARK DYNETICS
LANDMARK SITE LANDMARK SITE
INDIAN CREEK GREENWAY LINK
LANDMARK SITE LANDMARK SITE JACKSON CENTER HUDSONALPHA CAMPUS LAKE 3 ADTRAN LANDMARK SITE
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WATERFRONT CENTER IN CUMMINGS CORPORATE 35
CUMMINGS LANDMARK
The Landmarks are existing buildings and parcels that are reserved for apex high-tech businesses – large corporate campuses – in the most prominent locations of Cummings Research Park. Landmark campuses, such as those for ADTRAN, Teledyne Brown, and Lockheed Martin, already anchor CRP’s landscape. New Landmarks are positioned at each entry point into the Cummings Corporate District. Flexibility within zoning regulations will be granted to these sites to allow each company to design a bespoke campus for their needs; each Landmark site, though, will be required to provide a new publicly accessible and signature open space. Landmark companies are expected to raise the quality of their architectural and landscape design comparable to their stature in industry.
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
ACTIVE LANDSCAPES & EVENTS
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SCIENCE ON DISPLAY
LANDMARK SITE JACKSON CENTER
HUDSONALPHA
COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL
LANDMARK SITE
ADTRAN
DIGIUM LAKE 4
WATERFRONT CENTER AEGIS
RAYTHEON 37
With the needs of a range of business models in mind, Cummings Research Park provides a continuum of services to make each individual feel at home and each business become a success.
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Delivering key services to advance science is our new business.
The exciting range of new entrepreneurial development efforts taking shape in Huntsville is just the beginning. The challenge ahead is to perfect these efforts to offer a continuum of services that meets the needs of entrepreneurial, innovation businesses. Enhancing CRP’s programming and activities is critical to the success of its master plan and strengthening Huntsville’s innovation ecosystem. Cummings Research Park is uniquely positioned to assume new roles in this capacity. Serving a wider and diverse range of company needs: A different and more diverse class of tenants are anticipated, many of which may be medium and small enterprises aligned with the targeted growth industries. To serve these needs, including the eventual graduates of various incubators and accelerator programs across Huntsville, new multi-tenant facilities will be brought online in the park. The role of CRP will include assisting resident companies to access and leverage the technology and human resource assets that surround them.
Targeting areas of growth opportunity: Potential tenants involved in the growth opportunities will have an easy “on-ramp” to becoming part of the community. CRP recognizes that establishing strong networks is critical to promoting local relationships that sustain collaborative advantage and attract companies to Huntsville. CRPbased networking events for companies will lead to more in-depth knowledge of the leaders in emerging technologies in Huntsville and provide access to national and international contacts within these industries. Creating a sense of place and community: Placemaking and sense of community go hand in hand. There are important values to be achieved through engagement of property owners and tenants in an ongoing, organized structure that helps carry out necessary work on behalf of the park, but that also brings them into a regular pattern of communication, shared planning, and activities to advance the goals of CRP as a whole. The range of activities—including programming of events, wayfinding and signage, cleanliness, and security—will be crucial to advancing the park’s mission in the coming years. 39
CUMMINGS LANDMARK 40
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MADISON SQUARE INTERFACE
Corporate campus with world-class design
Dense mixed-use center with a signature park
GREENWAY & TRAILHEAD
AMENITY NODE
Connectivity through CRP to regional trail network
Plaza, kiosks and lake overlook along trail network
AMENITY NODE Plaza, kiosks and lake overlook along trail network WATERFRONT CENTER Mixed-use center with lake front shopping and hotel
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CUMMINGS LANDMARK
BRIDGE AND BRANDING Large-scale artwork as signage and gateway to CRP
BRADFORD CROSSING Dense mixed-use center with walkable streets
USE CORNER CORNER: MIXED UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY
Proof of Concept: A Five-Year Vision
Mixed office and residential redevelopment
SPARKMAN CROSSINGS
The strength of this master plan is not the elements of the plan alone, but rather in the system created in relationships between the plan’s many recommendations. This map illustrates an ambitious work program that represents the experimental nature of this park. These initiatives are proposed to demonstrate the effectiveness of a complete suite of the plan’s core elements that: promote local and regional connectivity, create a healthy and active landscape, build new mixeduse nodes, and catalyze innovation entrepreneurship at each major stage in the lifecycle of a business.
Intersection improvements for bicyclists and pedestrians
MAKER / HACKER VILLAGE Warehouse district for startups and mixed uses
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We’re changing the world. Join us.
DRIVEN BY SCIENCE. POWERED BY PEOPLE.
www.cummingsresearchpark.com