CHATTANOOGA, Tenn — Small Business owners at the Hamilton County INCubator say they’re worried about the future of the program as the County Commission is set to discuss their current building and “authorizing its disposal.”
That’s what’s listed on Wednesday’s Hamilton County Commission agenda for the property at 100 Cherokee Boulevard.
It was deeply disheartening, not from the impact to my business personally, but just for what it represents as a building that was donated, you know, 40 plus years ago,” said Nick Johnson, CEO of One-Off Robotics. “It’s the third largest incubator in the US, and one of the few with manufacturing capabilities. It represents an opportunity for so many to get into entrepreneurship and build business.
But while a county spokesperson wouldn’t give us specific details on the possible sale of the current building, she did say there are plans for a “new, modern business incubator closer to our central business district.”
When the county renewed the Development Center’s lease in 2024, the head of the Chamber of Commerce said that more than 500 companies went through the program over the last two decades.
An impact analysis on the program found that in 2022, it had a $70 million impact on Hamilton County.
The Vice President of Marketing for the Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce told us…
You may have seen news that Hamilton County is proposing the sale of the Hamilton County Business Development Center (BDC), the facility where the INCubator program is housed. The chamber has been a proud steward of the INCubator at the Hamilton County BDC for 28 of the almost 40 years it has been in existence. We understand the need for the county to manage its facilities portfolio. We are focused on ensuring the 35 small businesses who depend on this ecosystem have the support and space they need to continue growing. We are actively working on transition solutions. In the immediate term, our clients’ access to space, and the services they rely on remain in place including assistance from the 5 support organizations that are also housed in the BDC.
Hamilton County Commission Lee Helton shed more light on the issue. He said…
The business incubator is costing the county millions of dollars a year that we shouldn’t have to spend, just on maintenance and utilities. It’s designed to put businesses to scale, get them out in the community, creating jobs. That’s not necessarily what it’s doing right now. Our intent is to create a new incubator, retooled, put this piece of property back on the market.
But Nick Johnson, Co-founder of One Off Robotics, says the incubator is the livelihood of many of the people who work there…
“It’s deeply disheartening, not from the impact to my business personally, but just for what it represents as a building that was donated, you know, 40 plus years ago.”
We reached out to a spokesperson for Hamilton County to get more information on their plan for the building and how they ended up here. While they wouldn’t provide specifics, a spokesperson said…
We look forward to sharing a historic and exciting announcement (Wednesday) at 11:30 a.m. on the future of education and entrepreneurship in Hamilton County.
But business owners like Johnson say they want a clear timeline on when this shift will happen.
“It gives me a lot of worry that the opportunities that we have had and that we still need to keep expanding and growing are not going to be afforded to those in the future,” Johnson says.
We’ll keep you updated on what the county decides to do with the INCubator.
Depend on us to keep you posted.