Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9408050039
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A proposed local business incubator is part of the city's effort to have Roanoke designated an "enterprise community" by the federal government. That status could bring in $3 million or more in federal aid for community and business development.
The city expects to hear by Oct. 1 whether it will be one of the 65 urban areas chosen as an enterprise community, said Phil Sparks, the Roanoke's acting economic development chief.
Sparks has been working with the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce for the past five years toward building a business incubator here. Incubators generally provide start-up businesses with low rents, shared services and free business and technical advice for the first three to five years.
The subject recently drew the renewed attention of City Council. At its July 25 meeting, Councilman Mac McCadden asked the city staff to investigate leasing or buying the Campbell Avenue building that until recently housed an F.W. Woolworth store, for use as an incubator.
The store closed this year and the building is empty, as are a number of storefronts along Campbell in two blocks west of Jefferson Street. An incubator might spur other businesses to move to the avenue, McCadden said.
"They may have been talking about [a business incubator] but nothing's come out of it yet. I just don't want an opportunity to pass us by," he said. "I'm not for sitting around and studying this thing for a long time into the future."
Sparks said money has been the chief obstacle to getting an incubator off the ground. He estimated it will take up to $1.2 million in combined federal and local funding to establish one. The enterprise community grant asks for $700,000.
Even if Roanoke wins the funding, the Woolworth space probably isn't the best site for an incubator, Sparks said. It has little room for truck parking and no ramps for loading equipment, he said.
Rather, Sparks said, the former Leggett department store in the nearly vacant Roanoke-Salem Plaza would be a more suitable site.
Lynchburg has had a successful incubator running since 1989. It was built with funding from the federal, state and city governments.
It's been so successful that it recently doubled in size, from 20,000 to 40,000 square feet, said Barry Lyons, director of the Region 2000 Area Small Business Development Center.
The center fosters business creation in Appomattox, Campbell, Bedford and Amherst counties, as well as the cities of Lynchburg and Bedford.
The Lynchburg facility houses light-manufacturing businesses. Located in an industrial park on the outskirts of town, the facility offers new businesses market-rate rental space up to 4,000 square feet.
The advantage for entrepreneurs is that the incubator provides support services and business and technical advice for little or no charge.
Lessees also forego paying for restroom space, lunchrooms or conference rooms, which are available on site. A typical business in an office building would be charged additional rent for similar facilities.
by CNB