- By -Staff
- Business & Technology
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The incubator will be in the Carey Building, 314 E. State/Martin Luther King Jr. St. a block east of The Commons, is intended to bring rising entrepreneurs from throughout the area to downtown Ithaca to work, learn and create a thriving business hub, according to a Cornell news release.
The incubator is anticipated to open by this summer on the second floor of the Carey Building, with an expansion by early 2015 that will create a 9,000-square-foot space using both the second and third floors of the building.
The first floor retail space at the building now includes Mayer's, Homespun and Old Goat Gear Exchange, which will remain. The incubator will occupy the second floor.
The Downtown Incubator is one node in the new Southern Tier Innovation Hot Spot, a regional economic development plan that received a three-year, $250,000 award in December from the state's Regional Economic Development Council, according to Cornell. Upon graduation from an incubator, companies may qualify for additional support through the new START-UP NY program.
Travis-Hyde Properties owns and manages an array of apartment and office buildings in Ithaca, mainly downtown and in Collegetown, including Center Ithaca, the Eddygate apartments in Collegetown and the Gateway Center and Gateway Commons a few blocks east on State/MLK Street.
The incubator will be used for programming and events to support entrepreneurs. Those might include coaching by experienced professionals, networking among colleagues, and introductions to investors and mentors and a network of potential employers. There may be workshops on topics such as the basics of intellectual property.
Prospective tenant businesses need not be affiliated with any of the three academic institutions.
The total renovation cost is estimated at #3.5 million. Funding includes $1 million from the state and Travis Hyde Properties spending $2.5 million.
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