IBM's plans to bring more than a thousand information technology jobs to downtown Dubuque has the power for a real shake-up of the area economy.

Discussions concerning a Dubuque IBM global delivery center began 100-some days ago, and the final details are on the fast track for completion so a start date of early summer can be realized. The deal ultimately depends on more than $50 million in incentives, the biggest economic development deal reportedly in Iowa's history.

If all comes through for the project, the Dubuque Building isn't the only thing in the area on deck for a major renovation, officials say. The economic ripple effects of the project are expected to reverberate for some time. The impact could be so significant that local officials haven't completely wrapped their minds around the prospect.

"There are arms and legs we haven't even counted," said Greater Dubuque Development Corp. President Mike Blouin.

But City Manager Mike Van Milligen is confident the influx of new workers and their families can be sustained with the current infrastructure.

"I think the capacity exists,"

Advertisement

he said, pointing to what he believes is an ample housing stock.

While Van Milligen admits that some local companies could see their IT staffs diminish in the short term thanks to the presence of IBM, he believes that will be outweighed by the overall growth sparked by the company.

"Because there will be more of a magnet, there will be more opportunities here," he said, adding that IBM will be the first footprint of many.

The city manager pointed to the McDonald's food chain as evidence. In the 1960s, the company researched intensively what markets they wanted to be in and other chains without sophisticated market analysis simply followed in their tracks.

"We think some of that will happen with IBM; if they believe in Dubuque, others may follow," Van Milligen said.

The proposed project has the power to redefine the community in fundamental ways.

"There's a ton of pieces in this puzzle," said Dubuque city council member Ric Jones. "We've got the border, now we've got to fill in the pieces."

The economic ripples start with the number of jobs -- 1,300 promised by the end of 2010.

"The big impact is job creation," said Joseph Dzaluk, vice president of global infrastructure and resource management for IBM's integrated technical delivery branch.

Since the global delivery centers are part of a global network, Dzaluk said employees at the Dubuque facility would likely be able to attract a diverse pool of employees looking for connections to a variety of career tracks.

"Dubuque will now be on par to those large, integrated centers," he said.

With jobs growth comes people and the need to serve that growing population. That means more jobs and business expansion.

Beyond that, Blouin said that the Dubuque IBM global service center would have the potential to grow to as large as 4,000 positions, if the other centers in the network are any example.

But Dzaluk said any growth beyond the 1,300 jobs is contingent on how work force development goes in the initial plans.

Even if the proposed Dubuque IBM facility does not grow beyond the original projections, others in the business community still feel it will unleash some major marketing power on the business development end.

"It's a major advantage in our ability to help sell Dubuque. There are many cities the size of Dubuque but very few that can boast they're going to be adding 1,300 jobs in next year and a half. It's a major selling tool," said Steve St. Peter, of Rubloff Development Group, owner and operator of Asbury Plaza shopping center.

Parking

Deal includes shuttle service

Not immediately clear in the plan for a wave of new downtown workers is where they are going to park.

The development agreement includes a clause outlining free shuttle service to the Port of Dubuque, where Van Milligen said close to 2,000 spots are largely unused during the day. The city agreed to provide 10 years of free shuttle bus service valued at $1.3 million among its portion of the agreement.

Blouin added that there are currently several hundred vacant spots downtown and in the existing ramps.

The long-term solution is a new parking ramp at the intersection of Fifth and Bluff streets, which is contingent on federal aid.

The ramp is slated to cost $20 million and create 900 spaces. Van Milligen said the aid should cover half of the cost. A response is expected by July. Van Milligen hopes the ramp could be constructed by the end of 2010.

Although Radio Dubuque announced plans this month to relocate and vacate its property just across the street from the Dubuque Building, Van Milligen said the "expenses related to that site" made a parking ramp there unfeasible.

--TH staff writers Stacey Becker and Mary Rae Bragg contributed.

Housing

Realtors say housing plentiful

The initial influx of residents caused by IBM's move to the city should not have much problem finding housing, according to the officials with the Dubuque Board of Realtors.

But as the company continues to add to its employee base, attracting college graduates to its ranks, there might be a scarcity in the type of housing the employees likely will look for.

It's a picture that bodes well for landlords and home sellers, as well as builders who want to fill the need for housing in all price ranges.

Checking his listings last week, current Board of Realtors President Nick Goodmann found 187 active listings within Dubuque in the price range between $100,000 and $300,000. There were 294 in that price range in the larger tri-state area, not including Galena, Ill., Goodmann said.

Higher-profile home prospects are good for the estimated 300 IBM employees expected in the first wave, many of who will be management with higher salaries powering their home choices, Goodmann said. Their bigger problem might be in unloading their current homes, he said, if they are coming from parts of the nation where housing sales are stalled.

Terry Duggan, former mayor of Dubuque as well as a former president of the Dubuque Board of Realtors, agreed, "There is a nice supply of homes right now in all price ranges."

"We didn't see (a price) escalation as other areas did," Duggan said. "Affordable housing was always an asset and it continues to be that."

As mayor, Duggan said one of his priorities was to encourage construction of lower-price housing, and he expects the IBM recruitment of employees with young families will spur more building of that type. However, younger people might find Dubuque short of good, affordable apartments and rental units to suit their lifestyles.

"They like to be near 'happening' things, but a number will want to live in newer, West End places," Duggan said. "That could be a place where the shoe will pinch."

-- Mary Rae Bragg

Schools

Student influx could test district

The IBM announcement has sent the Dubuque Community School District into research mode.

"This is good news," said Superintendent John Burgart. "Now let's figure out what this means."

School district officials plan to keep in contact with city and IBM leaders over the next couple of months to discover the company's typical work force demographics. District officials are especially interested in learning the typical percentage of the work force that has school-aged children who would attend school within the district.

"It could have a significant impact, and that impact could be sooner rather than later," Burgart said.

IBM plans to have hired from 700 to 800 employees by the end of August, which has the potential to bring a large amount of new people with children to the district.

An increase in student enrollment would help increase the amount of money the district receives from the state for its budget authority.

But the immediate in-migration could cause problems.

"If the influx is immediate and large, that would be hard to operate," Burgart said.

He said elementary schools should be able to accommodate a large increase of students, and the new high school boundaries should be able to balance class sizes. The middle schools, however, might have more difficulty accommodating a large number of students.

"Even after the opening of (Eleanor) Roosevelt (Middle School), we're still tight for space," Burgart said.

Although the Dubuque school district might be faced with some challenges, Burgart said those challenges have a silver lining.

"Many, many districts would be happy to be faced with the challenge that we could be faced with," Burgart said.

Clarke College President Sister Joanne Burrows believes the IBM project would create a local emphasis on certain educational skills.

"I'm hoping this is going to jump-start an emphasis in math in the elementary and high schools," she said.

The IBM opening would demonstrate to students, she said, that they can get jobs in the field.

"And those jobs are here, they're not in India, they're in Dubuque," she said. "Students will encounter their next-door neighbor that is a computer scientist."

Burrows also believes the proposed IBM project would spark gradual growth of computer science and technology-related programs in all of the colleges.

-- Stacey Becker