Defense Research and Testing Facility
At the end of 2006, the former MFA Milling Center at 524 N. Boonville in Springfield, Missouri became the Jordan Valley Innovation Center, a state-of-the-art facility for life-sciences research related to homeland security and defense. Transforming a facility severely deteriorated and slated for demolition into a high-tech innovation center was a cooperative effort by the City of Springfield, Missouri State University, Congressman Roy Blunt and several professional consultants. St. Louis based Ross & Baruzzini, Inc. and Health Education Research Associates were the Prime Consultants who evaluated and designed the interior to accommodate the new highly technological uses. Exterior Building Design changes were determined by Sapp Design Associates, and the necessary security issues were addressed by Rolla based The Havens Group. Operations undertaken at the center are “life science” research directed toward homeland security, defense applications, and biotechnology. It’s very interdisciplinary; it crosses over between security issues, biology issues, business issues, and a whole range of different concerns.
