SU to open South Side business incubator

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Mar 24, 2006 by Duffett, Claire

SYRACUSE - On April 1, Syracuse University (SU) will open an office building on the city's South Side.

The purpose of the South Side Innovation Center is to help new and established businesses in that area succeed, explains Michael Morris, the Whitting chair in entrepreneurship in SU's Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

The center is in Dunk & Bright's former showroom and warehouse, located adjacent to the furniture dealer's current facility, at the corner of Warner Avenue and South Salina Street.

Dunk & Bright President James F. Bright owns the facility, which he will lease to SU for a reduced rate. Morris declined to share the lease terms.

The Center is only a portion of the South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Project, a program launched and funded by SU and area businesses and donors. The goal of the project is to foster 100 successful businesses in the economically depressed region of the city of Syracuse by 2010, Mortis says.

The first three businesses will move into the center in April, including start-up company Tyme Savers, LLC, owned by South Side resident Doris Danchi, says Joseph Dickson, the center's director.

Branch's Driving School, an existing company, will also open an office at the facility, he says. Branch's headquarters are at 212 N. Franklin St. in Syracuse. This will be it's sixth satellite office.

Several other companies are still in the running to be the center's third tenant, Dickson says.

SU hired Dickson, the only full-time center employee, on Feb. 1. He obtained the position because he is a successful entrepreneur whose business, microelectronics firm Tegman Corp., took off at the Samuel J. Williams, Jr. Business Incubator Center on East Fayette Street, he says. Dickson launched the company in 1988 and sold it in 1992.

The Innovation Center will house up to 40 businesses when the renovations are complete in June, Morris says.

The interior of the building is made up of 2,500 square feet of showroom space that is usable in its current condition and 11,000 square feet of warehouse space in need of renovations.

Lease rates are dependent on the nature of the tenant, Dickson explains. New businesses pay $13 per square foot annually, while existing companies pay $17 per square foot. The lease price includes access to local phone service, Internet, and the center's fax machines and copiers, he says.

Businesses may rent between 100 and 200 square feet of space.

The inside of the building will be left as renovated open space, divided by cubicles, with an adjacent classroom and cafeteria.

Tenants can receive training and support from a variety of SU experts, Morris explains. The center will host professors from SU's departments in business, architecture, law, information technology, and even fashion, he says.

"The resources of the entire campus will be accessible through the incubator," Morris says.

Businesses that take advantage of the center must also be committed to doing business in, and remaining in the South Side, Morris says.

Participants will have to meet specified growth criteria and owners must undergo regular training, he adds.

"If they're not on track, they will have to exit the facility," Morris says of the program's high expectations. "This is not a real-estate proposition ... we're here to create winners."

Morris declined to share the start-up costs of leasing and renovating the facility, but says they will retrofit the former warehouse on a "tight budget."

Morris estimates that annual operating costs to maintain the facility will be about $200,000.

SU has committed $500,000 to the program start-up to pay for the lease, renovations, furniture and equipment, and upcoming operating expenses, Dickson says.

SU's internal construction firm is the general contractor that will oversee the renovations. The architect, engineer, and furniture supplier have yet to be selected, Dickson says.