The Tech Garden in Downtown Syracuse to Undergo $25M Expansion in 2023:
https://www.thetechgarden.com/news/t...ansion-in-2023
More here: "A nearly $25 million expansion of The Tech Garden business accelerator will give a dreary stretch of downtown Syracuse a bright, modern look, planners say.
CenterState CEO, which operates the facility, plans to start construction on a two-story addition in the spring of 2023. Completion is expected in the fall of 2024.
The addition will add 46,000 square feet of flexible office and meeting space that will nearly triple the number of startup companies that can work there, according to the economic development organization.
The 30,000-square-foot center has served as an incubator for successful startups like Digital Hyve, Ephesus Lighting, Density, Impel (formerly SpinCar) and TCGplayer (which was recently acquired by eBay for $295 million).
The center provides low-cost office space and mentoring to new companies in technology fields, including the unmanned aerial systems industry. At the expanded space, those businesses will have access to the roof to launch drones.
Its original name was Syracuse Technology Garden, which was later shortened to The Tech Garden. With the expansion, the center plans to extend its support to companies outside the technology fields and likely will adopt a new name.
And along with its new look and additional space, the Tech Garden will expand its mission.
Dominic Robinson, CenterState’s senior vice president of inclusive growth, said the center hopes to attract more startups run by people of color, women, veterans and other underrepresented populations, and companies in fields other than technology.
“The expansion is really an awesome moment for us, a reimagination of who we serve and how,” he said. “The building kind of gives us a new campus.”
The incubator opened in 2005 in the remains of a collapsed parking garage at the northeast corner of South Warren and Harrison streets. Its mission is to stimulate entrepreneurship, promote the development of emerging growth companies and support technology commercialization.
In addition to affordable office space, tech startups are offered business plan assistance, marketing advice, networking opportunities and targeted referrals to help them grow. Tenants are encouraged to relocate to other office space in Syracuse once their revenue streams allow them to stand on their own.
One of its current residents, Density, recently received an investment that placed its valuation at more than $1 billion. In March, it moved its manufacturing center from the Tech Garden to larger space in the historic Whitlock Building on South Salina Street, while maintaining a presence at the business accelerator.
Currently, 20 companies have offices in the one-story building and another 100 are “virtual” members that receive support services but do not maintain offices there. About 40% of the companies with space in the center are involved in the drone industry.
By more than doubling its space, the center’s ability to spin out growth companies will be greatly enhanced, CenterState officials say. With the expansion, the center will be able to accommodate an additional 35 resident startups and 100 more virtual members, according to CenterState.
The current building is a box-like structure with an entrance facing South Warren Street and an open plaza that is sparsely landscaped.
Along with two new floors of space, the building will receive an entirely new facade and lose the boxy look. A new entrance will face Harrison Street, and the new floors will be curved and contain large windows to bring in lots of natural light.
The second floor will contain a 3,000-square-foot meeting space with room for up to 180 seats. It also will feature a 5,000-square-foot roof terrace overlooking Harrison Street, which connects the historic Marriott Syracuse Downtown (the former Hotel Syracuse) a block to the west with the Oncenter, Onondaga County’s convention center complex, a block to the east.
Companies in the unmanned aerial systems industry will have access to the roof to launch drones.
And the Tech Garden’s barren, wind-swept plaza facing Warren Street will get a warmer, more welcoming look with trees and other landscaping.
“The goal is to make this a much more dynamic area around the Tech Garden,” said Lori Dietz, CenterState’s senior vice president for administration and human capital.
John Liddy, CenterState’s interim vice president of innovation and entrepreneurship, said the expanded center will continue to serve as a tech company incubator and will have an expanded “hardware” area where tenants can assemble and display prototypes and other products.
An artist rendering shows the letters “TTG” (short for The Tech Garden) on the building, but Elle Hanna, CenterState’s senior vice president of marketing and communications, said that is just a placeholder until a new name is chosen.
Plans for the expansion were first announced in 2019. At the time, the addition was estimated to cost $16.5 million. Initial designs were much different, maintaining much of the building’s boxy look.
The coronavirus pandemic delayed the project for a couple of years -- and drove up its cost to $24.6 million. But with the extra time, the design was changed. And funding has been obtained, mostly from government sources, to pay for the expansion:
- Empire State Development, the state’s economic development arm: $16.6 million
- State Dormitory Authority: $3.4 million
- State Senate: $1 million
- State Assembly: $1 million
- Onondaga County: $1.5 million
- Syracuse Industrial Development Agency: $1 million (distributed over three years)
- National Grid: $250,000
The city of Syracuse, which owns the property, is providing a 20-year lease to CenterState at $1 a year."
Source:
https://www.syracuse.com/business/20...-new-look.html
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