University of Illinois Springfield says it will rent space on the third floor of the Horace Mann building in downtown Springfield, shown here, to house the UIS Innovation Center, which includes the Innovate Springfield business incubator.
University of Illinois Springfield has pivoted from plans to open its new “Innovation Center” in a three-story building downtown and now will rent space for the center three blocks east, on half of the third floor inside Horace Mann Educators Corp.’s headquarters.
A rental contract, finalized between UIS and Horace Mann in recent days, will allow Innovate Springfield to relocate from rented space it has occupied for the past decade at 15 S. Old State Capitol Plaza to more spacious digs at Horace Mann in September.
The 2.5-year lease for 9,800 square feet inside the six-floor Horace Mann building also will allow UIS to formally launch the innovation center, of which the Innovate Springfield business incubator will be a part, according to Robert Kerr, UIS executive director of innovation and opportunity.
The effort will allow UIS to “expand programs that support economic development in the region” and “allow the center to broaden programming and services focused on innovation, entrepreneurship and collaboration,” according to a July 2 joint news release issued by UIS and Horace Mann.
“This strategic relocation will enable us to bring more people into our innovation ecosystem, including students, faculty, corporate partners, civic organizations and entrepreneurs,” Kerr said.
UIS Chancellor Janet Gooch said in the news release, “This move deepens our connection to the downtown community and allows us to expand our innovation efforts. We are grateful to Horace Mann for supporting our vision and helping us increase opportunities for students and entrepreneurs alike.”
Don Carley, executive vice president and general counsel for Horace Mann, a publicly traded company based in Springfield that provides insurance and other financial services to educators nationwide, said the company is excited to work with UIS.
“This is a perfect fit,” he told Illinois Times.
The Horace Mann lease can be extended for another two years. UIS will pay $196,000 in rent each year, Kerr said. The rent includes parking, security and utilities, he said.
UIS announced in December 2022 that it purchased a three-story, 24,600-square-foot building at 401 E. Washington St., for the UIS Innovation Center, and the university planned to open the center – housing Innovate Springfield – sometime in 2025.
Kerr wouldn’t say what prompted UIS to change its plans from 401 E. Washington St. The latest lease for Innovate Springfield’s current location expires soon, so he said the opportunity at Horace Mann, which provides almost 3,000 more square feet, allows for an easy transition.
FILE PHOTO
Ben Hage, director of Innovate Springfield, left, and Rob Kerr, executive director of UIS Innovation Center, will relocate from 15 S. Old State Capitol Plaza to the third floor of Horace Mann’s downtown Springfield headquarters in 9,800 square feet of rented space in September.
As for the Washington Street building, “all I can say is that conversations are continuing” regarding its future use, Kerr said.
The uncertainty surrounding future use of the Washington Street building is one reason the Horace Mann lease doesn’t reserve space for long-term occupancy, Kerr said.
The building on Washington is empty, and UIS, which bought it for $950,000 from the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association and planned to use $15 million in capital funds to renovate the structure, hasn’t spent the $15 million elsewhere, Kerr said.
The UIS Center for State Policy and Leadership may eventually move into the Horace Mann space as well, he said.
Operating out of a building with a cafe on its top floor and offices in the basement and on floors two through six, the UIS Innovation Center will be able to expand workforce development programs through continuing and professional development with a variety of corporate and nonprofit clients, Kerr said.
Horace Mann has the space available for lease because the company, like others around the country during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, “continues to embrace hybrid work to support work-life balance,” according to the UIS-Horace Mann news release.
Horace Mann is reconfiguring office space to welcome UIS, and the company is open to leasing one or 1.5 more floors, Carley said.
Between 500 and 600 Horace Mann employees work part time or full time in the building, he said. The building was constructed in the early 1970s and has undergone major improvements in recent years, he said.
Horace Mann employs about 1,800 people in Springfield and at offices in Dallas, suburban Madison, Wisconsin, and in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Carley said. The company works with about 600 agents who are independent contractors.
It will be exciting to have more people working in the building, Carley said. “I think it will be viewed as a positive for employees,” he said.
There’s plenty of parking available for Horace Mann employees, UIS employees and clients of the innovation center in Horace Mann’s three nearby surface parking lots, he said.
Innovate Springfield became part of UIS in 2018. It supports more than 50 member companies that have added more than 280 jobs to the local economy, according to UIS.