‘Eclectic’ doesn’t begin to describe Jeff Keck’s job history.

Recently promoted to executive director of the Springfield Business Improvement District (BID), the San Diego native once served as an insurance agent before moving to the Pioneer Valley in 1999, later earning a bachelor’s degree in Social Thought and Political Economy from UMass Amherst.

But he’s also clocked in as an air traffic controller, waiter, construction worker, heavy metal guitarist, band manager, and, for a time, French chef.

He could have planted his roots virtually anywhere; his path to Western Mass. began with a search for promising, flourishing arts towns in America where he could live and study, and ended in Northampton, number five on a national list in the late ’90s.

A cross-country trip in a motor home with five cats serving as co-pilots and his first ice storm later, Keck arrived. He says it’s his mix of vocational experiences that helped him land his first job at the BID, as its operations manager, seven years ago, and his affinity for the New England weather and temperament that prompted him to stay.

“I think I have my Viking heritage to thank,” he said, harkening back to that storm and the way the wipers froze onto the windshield. “It took time to get acclimated, but the change of the seasons in New England makes you think about life. It makes you ask yourself, ‘what do I want to do next?’”

And although Keck has found an outlet for his diverse background at the BID, he continues to ask himself that question, usually with Springfield and the improvement thereof in mind.

Place in Time

Keck succeeds former executive director Robert Turin, who retired in December. He brings a solid body of work with the BID to his new position, including the creation of a job training and placement program that, to date, has recorded about an 86% success rate; a graffiti-removal program, which strives to remove vandalism reported to the BID by property owners within 48 hours; and a tree-planting program that serves as part of a larger beautification plan. To date, about 115 trees have been planted downtown.

However, Keck conceded that nothing prepared him for his first few days in his new position, which began with a heightening of controversy surrounding a new, state-funded back-up data facility in Springfield and where it should be located — STCC’s Technology Park or the area once home to the former Springfield Technical High School (the BID has formally backed the Springfield Tech site). Just a short time later, the city received a blow when news broke regarding its first homicide of the year, which took place at Kennedy Fried Chicken on Main Street, just a few blocks from the BID offices.

Keck was asked for comment and, to a degree, for reassurance on both issues, and said the phone calls and attention his office received was a baptism by fire, to say the least.

“But it taught me one lesson very quickly,” he said, “and that is that we’re dealing with people’s lives and the quality of those lives here, and there is no rest.”

That said, Keck’s primary objective for the BID as he moves forward is to focus on the safety of the city, in turn changing others’ perceptions of Springfield, including potential property owners.

It’s a broad goal that will draw from many different wells, he said, adding, however, that the range of services the BID already provides and the organization’s pliable nature will allow several different programs to be tailored toward that one, all-important objective.

Keck explained that the mission of Springfield’s BID, which was the first such organization formed in New England, is to serve as a non-profit “focal point” for commerce and social, cultural, governmental, and residential activity in the city’s downtown, in conjunction with the Economic Development Council of Western Mass. (EDC). Its members are largely property owners downtown, and for fiscal year 2007, Keck and his staff have a $761,700 budget with which to work.

“The great thing about a BID is you can center on whatever you want,” he said. “Some focus primarily on tourism, others on commerce. Hartford has just instituted a BID, and they’re modeling it after us, which is fantastic.”

High-rising Interest

Part of that model is a four-point plan first introduced by Turin — Clean, Spruce, Liven, and Sell — which Keck said he’ll continue. But more than ever, he said the BID must attract people to the downtown area, not just as visitors but as property owners as well, and therefore the BID’s focus on real estate sales will be ramped up considerably.

The promotion of available real estate in the city has long been a part of the BID’s repertoire; however, it has long been overshadowed by more visible initiatives such as a successful summer concert series and the International Billiards Championship held last year at the Basketball Hall of Fame and scheduled to return next month. The event is broadcast on ESPN along with a number of informational vignettes about Springfield, and offers a major dose of national exposure. But Keck said that’s just one of the necessary aspects of the work needed to improve the city’s image as well as its bottom line.

“Everything ties into real estate at this point,” he said. “It’s about what brings people to Springfield. Maybe it’s a concert, maybe it’s ESPN. And not only do we want people coming here, we want people to buy here, and recognize that it’s a great time to be in Springfield. We have cheap real estate, the state is supporting us, and the BID is working to create programs that will allow all types of businesses to get off the ground.”

Some of those programs are still in the early discussion phase, and Keck said they are tied together by a focus on becoming more active in the city’s real estate scene.

“One new thing we’re looking at is becoming more of a broker for the city,” he explained, adding that part of that plan is to recruit specific businesses that will augment Springfield’s overall feel, such as a brewery and restaurant, or a Hall of Fame-themed eatery.

In addition, Keck is also looking into a potential upgrade to the BID’s real estate search engine, PrimeSpace, which is part of the group’s Web site, springfielddowntown.com.

Currently, those looking to buy, rent, or lease space downtown can use PrimeSpace to locate office or residential space that fits their needs by entering the necessary criteria — square footage, telecommunication capabilities, and location, for instance — and then linking to the property owner or seller. Keck wants to revamp the service to include virtual tours of not only the properties themselves, but also the surrounding area.

“I propose that we show the overall ambiance of an area,” he said. “All office space pretty much looks the same, but not if someone can take a closer look at the neighborhood.”

He’d also like to institute some creative financing options for potential tenants, such as a three- to six-month free period for those signing a three-year lease.

Getting Connected

Keck said the BID has recently increased its advertising budget for real estate sales, in order to better market some of the city’s key selling points, such as inexpensive lease rates and fiber-optic cabling. In the future, the city is also mulling the addition of free wi-fi capability, which Keck said could be a major draw for start-ups and young professionals, as well as college-bound students looking at schools in the area.

“We’ve partnered with the Regional Technology Corp. to look at the feasibility of that,” he said of a wi-fi system, the hardware for which could be piggybacked on the city’s existing surveillance camera system. “It’s still in the preliminary stages, and for some it’s hard to quantify why it’s important.”

But Keck added that he draws some inspiration from the recent Urban Land Institute study, completed in tandem with the city, which concluded that to thrive, Springfield should look toward recruiting 20-somethings and empty nesters, the former of which in particular are attracted to an area based on its technological infrastructure.

“They like to be connected all the time,” he said. “If the downtown offers easy access to 24-hour connectivity, then people will come downtown. This is the lifestyle shift we’re in the middle of.”

And to not only attract but hold onto new residents and businesses, Keck returned to the hot-button issue of safety, and said he’s looking at interventions that will address real issues downtown as well as the image of the city overall. One is the ComNet program, a communications network that would link private security companies with the Springfield Police Department, allowing for a quicker response to emergencies.

He explained that guards employed by private outfits, as well as the BID’s own cadre of Springfield Guides, who offer assistance during events, would be trained in using the system.

“It’s about control,” Keck said. “We can turn things around with the right programming, and this is right because essentially, it will augment our police force.”

Neither Rain Nor Sleet…

As he moves forward in his new position, Keck said there are still plenty of challenges to be met and even more questions to be answered.

“There are still a lot of unknowns,” he said. “We’re still looking for the city’s magnets — those indefinable, niche qualities.”

As the seasons pass, Keck said he fully expects more hurdles to surface, but having seen both sun and storm, he’s ready for whatever occurs.

“Change creates progress,” he said.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at stevenson@businesswest.com