With construction planned for this fall, Albert Lea’s business incubator is only months from opening its doors to local entrepreneurs and start-up companies.

Saturday, September 15, 2001

With construction planned for this fall, Albert Lea’s business incubator is only months from opening its doors to local entrepreneurs and start-up companies.

The Albert Lea Port Authority met Monday to award the bid for renovation of the incubator, located in a 41,000-square foot speculative building in the North Aire Industrial Park. When complete, the building will be called the Albert Lea Business Development Center.

The winning bid came from RCR Construction of Albert Lea. Its bid of $370,000 was well below the architect’s estimate of nearly $500,000.

According to RCR project manager Scott Hitchcock, the renovation involves erecting walls throughout the now-empty building to create several suites of offices. Using steel studs and dry wall, the warehouse-like building will transform into an office building, Hitchcock said. The addition of restrooms, kitchen facilities and several exterior windows will complete the transformation. Hitchcock said the project will take about four months at the most.

&uot;We won,t have to deal with weather delays or concerns like that, so we should be able to work pretty quickly,&uot; he said.

The center will eventually house start up companies who can share common resources provided by Greater Jobs, Inc. and Riverland Community College. So far, three possible tenants have shown considerable interest, said City Manager Paul Sparks.

&uot;We’re talking with a food processor, a manufacturer and an outsourcer who are attracted to the arrangement,&uot; Sparks said. &uot;That would be an excellent start.&uot;

One goal of the center is to attract some small technology companies, and some additional infrastructure such as high-speed, high-capacity communications will be added once the initial renovation is complete, Sparks said.

The center will aim for an occupancy rate of about 90 percent, so some space is always available if new start-up companies are interested, Sparks said.

According to Pam Bishop, executive vice president of Greater Jobs, start-up companies often need assistance with developing business plans, legal work, accounting and other services. The center will work to provide that kind of assistance, she said.

&uot;We’re going to move our offices to the center as soon as the building is ready,&uot; said Pam Bishop, executive vice-president of Greater Jobs. &uot;We want to be on-site to help give support to the tenants.&uot;

Riverland will also dedicate a business faculty position to the center, and a staff of volunteers with business experience will also be available for consultation, Bishop said.

If the center is successful, many of the tenants will be successful enough to expand operations and find a permanent home in Albert Lea, ultimately creating jobs and adding to the city’s tax base.

&uot;It’s an innovative idea, but a lot of other cities are having great success with centers like this,&uot; Bishop said.

The center is funded jointly by the port authority, Greater Jobs, and a $200,000 interest-free loan from Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services.