ReVenture Park developer Tom McKittrick says the project has proved that an “eco-industrial park” can be built from distressed industrial sites.
When he does his next project, and he insists there will be one, he says he will apply the lessons he learned in developing ReVenture.
In a new video, McKittrick explains why the idea of the park captured his imagination more than six years ago and why he feels he has accomplished his goal, despite reversals and the project’s slow start.
In the video, he says the point was to “create … a hub for attracting clean-energy technology and companies.”
‘Adult science fair’
Even at the celebration of ReVenture’s unveiling Thursday, McKittrick acknowledged the initial scale of the project is smaller than he once had hoped.
The nine businesses on the site are largely startups. But he says what is exciting to him is that he can already see several companies working on clean energy, sustainable products, recycling and reuse, and learning from each other.
“It’s almost like an adult science fair here,” he said Thursday as he accepted an award from the Environmental Protection Agency for the project he developed.
In the video, talks about how his embryonic “eco-Disney World” developed, the lessons he has learned building it and how he intends to use them.
