Business incubator

could hatch in a month
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

Work on the Appalachian Enterprise Center could be wrapped up by the end of the year, with plans under way to manage what could be up to 20 new businesses in the renovated incubator space.

Renovations to the 8,000-square-foot commercial space in the county’s Human Services Complex in Boone began last year.

It’s the latest conversion of the former drug store that was once a small business incubator and economic development center before being leased by a local software company.

In its first incarnation in the 1990s, the county’s economic development strategy was focused on recruiting businesses from outside the region.

Now it will return to its previous state, only with a far more comprehensive approach to spawning and supporting locally launched businesses.

Watauga County planning director Joe Furman said change orders had led to a slight delay in the major renovation, which was originally scheduled to be finished several weeks ago.

“It should be ready to be occupied next month,” he said.

The renovation cost about $400,000, with $290,000 coming from economic development grants.

That money will be recouped through small businesses leasing the space, and the managing entity Committee of 100 currently developing a plan to solicit businesses for the spaces.

In January, the county commissioners approved a use agreement that would allow the Committee of 100 to operate the center, with the county sharing in revenues. The Committee of 100 will manage the space, with the county getting 30 percent of rent or revenue in the first year of operation, 40 percent in the second year and 50 percent in subsequent years.

The center will house a partnership of various economic development agencies, including the Appalachian Regional Development Institute and the ASU Energy Center, both of whom are already tenants. The remaining space will be broken into as many as 18 commercial spaces designed to launch new small businesses.

Furman said the space is broken into a series of suites that could be rented as either a suite for a larger company or a series of single offices. The site already has a large conference room, and one of the offices could be used for a smaller conference room.

The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), a volunteer-based advisory program allied with the federal Small Business Association, already has an office in the Appalachian Enterprise Center and staffs it two days a week. It’s likely the committee will hire an on-site manager for the center.

The Committee of 100 has discussed requiring participating business owners to either complete the local entrepreneurship program or a similar business mentoring program designed to develop marketing and management skills.

ARDI will continue to run the county’s entrepreneurship program, which offers guidance and mentoring for those wanting to pursue a start-up business. Those who have already completed the program could be in line to be easily approved for renting incubator space.

Furman said there would likely be a “soft opening” of the incubator space early next year, with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony in the spring.

He said though the county had contracted with Committee of 100 to operate the center, the county would remain involved through its participation in the entrepreneurship program and through its representatives on the committee.