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Nuture By Nature

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A group of business people in Citrus County, Florida are working to establish a business incubator program. The program would provide office space, support, and guidance to help new businesses get started. Teresa Bell, who started her own IT company, has proposed using the former CHAMPS Software building as the incubator location. The building is assessed at $919,000 and has features like natural lighting and an energy efficient well system. Bell is applying for federal grants and hopes to buy and renovate the building to house multiple new businesses and help grow the local economy.

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Story reprinted from www.chronicleonline.com Page 1 of 3 Print this article Nurture by nature By Chris Van Ormer The idea of a business incubator has been percolating with the Citrus County Economic Development Council for many years. At last, a group of business people is hatching a plan in hope of making it happen. One of my dreams was to get this off the ground, said Teresa Bell, chairman of the board of directors of the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce. I decided to dive in and go for it. A business incubator would be a program to help entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running. In addition to offering office space at a low rent, the incubator would offer support and guidance through input from the EDC, the Citrus chapter of SCORE and the Small Business Development Center. Its the sort of program I wish Id had when I was starting my business, Bell said. I had to go out and find my own help. I had to find my own financing and loans. Its hard when you are trying to be a business and sell and you have never done it before. Bell founded her own business, Citrus Networking Solutions Group Inc., a managed services provider and information technology consulting company, in 2003. Also, she was one of the founders of CITA, Citrus Information Technology Alliance, a group of representatives from workforce, educational and business sectors in the community that use and provide information technology. Bell has chosen a beautiful potential site for the incubator, the building of CHAMPS Software Inc. in Meadowcrest, Crystal River. Built in 1984, the professional services building has three distinct spaces inside naturally lit with huge windows. Outside, it is surrounded with decks and is raised on stilts because water from a well flows underneath it for natural heating and cooling. It was green before green began, Bell said. The CHAMPS building is Bells first choice for a site when applying for the grant to fund the program. Its about 25 years old and assessed at $919,000, according to the Citrus County Property Appraiser. Shes seeking federal funding through the Economic Development Administration, and is emphasizing the encouragement of clean, green businesses. Thats why Bell asked Walt Stachowicz, president of the Citrus County Green Business Council, to look at the building. Its a good design, Stachowicz said. It has a head start already. But it needs work to make it even more energy efficient. For one thing, its a good-looking building with a lot of glass. It has so much glass, Stachowicz said. But we can put film on it to reduce the heat gain. http://www.chronicleonline.com/cgi-bin/c2printstory.cgi?071+article+sectionname+20100... 8/23/2010
Story reprinted from www.chronicleonline.com Page 2 of 3 The air conditioning system is cooled by the water flowing under and around the building, an attractive visual feature of the structure. We could find a more efficient well pump, Stachowicz said. He also recommended an energy audit to find more ways to conserve. Bell said she expected the building to become a great showcase for green businesses. The agencies that offer grants prefer to use existing buildings rather than see new ones constructed, she said. The site fits criteria in another way: location. Bell said the building should not be within city limits and should be centrally located. When businesses have grown to the point they no longer need support, they can use commercial space within the cities, she said. This building also would need no zoning change. Dr. Philip Geist, area director for the Small Business Development Center, has been working EDA representatives for grants for the building, Bell said. Phil has worked with incubators in Alachua County and brings his experience to the program, Bell said. Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, also has been working with Bell on the business incubator project. Bell said the council, which was established by the Florida Legislature in 1996 to attract, retain and grow high-tech industry and to help develop the workforce to support those industries, has put more than 130 businesses through the incubator process. The result has been to create about 1,000 direct jobs with an average pay of $60,000 a year and more than 1,000 indirect jobs, Bell said. More than $200 million has been brought to Florida because of incubator businesses, Bell said. If a grant is approved for this building, Bell said the plan would be to buy it from its owner, Chandra Patel, president and owner of CHAMPS Software, and rent it back to him. CHAMPS occupies a third of the building. Mobiform, a web-based business, rents another third. The last third is vacant. A partition would be built to secure CHAMPS, Bell said. The plan for the remainder of the building would be to reconfigure the spaces within the building using partitions, so spaces could grow with the incubated businesses. The interior also includes a conference room, a kitchen and an old server room, the space of which can be used by businesses. When set up, the businesses will have a shared reception area with a receptionist. It will give new businesses an address and phone number and a place to bring their clients, Bell said. They will have VOIP phones, so they can take their phone numbers with them when they leave. While expecting many businesses to be Web based, potential clients could be any type of business needing office space with support. Its got to be a scalable business, one that can continue to grow, Bell said. Entrepreneurs wanting to use the business incubator program would apply to the programs board of directors, which would be composed of representatives from the EDC, the county, the cities of Inverness and Crystal River, Central Florida Community College, the Withlacoochee Technical Institute and University of Central Florida, for example, Bell said. We would then monitor the business, Bell said. The rule would be that a business could stay for three years. Three years, and they are out, Bell said. Or at least no more than five years. http://www.chronicleonline.com/cgi-bin/c2printstory.cgi?071+article+sectionname+20100... 8/23/2010
Story reprinted from www.chronicleonline.com Page 3 of 3 The program seems to be an idea whose time has come. Were in a good atmosphere to get it done, Bell said. Weve got the EDC and the chamber working together now. The timing also is good for a still-struggling economy. We need it for putting people back to work, Bell said. My goal next year is to get businesses in here and working. Copyright www.chronicleonline.com. All rights reserved. Print this article | Close this print window http://www.chronicleonline.com/cgi-bin/c2printstory.cgi?071+article+sectionname+20100... 8/23/2010

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Nuture By Nature

  • 1. Story reprinted from www.chronicleonline.com Page 1 of 3 Print this article Nurture by nature By Chris Van Ormer The idea of a business incubator has been percolating with the Citrus County Economic Development Council for many years. At last, a group of business people is hatching a plan in hope of making it happen. One of my dreams was to get this off the ground, said Teresa Bell, chairman of the board of directors of the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce. I decided to dive in and go for it. A business incubator would be a program to help entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running. In addition to offering office space at a low rent, the incubator would offer support and guidance through input from the EDC, the Citrus chapter of SCORE and the Small Business Development Center. Its the sort of program I wish Id had when I was starting my business, Bell said. I had to go out and find my own help. I had to find my own financing and loans. Its hard when you are trying to be a business and sell and you have never done it before. Bell founded her own business, Citrus Networking Solutions Group Inc., a managed services provider and information technology consulting company, in 2003. Also, she was one of the founders of CITA, Citrus Information Technology Alliance, a group of representatives from workforce, educational and business sectors in the community that use and provide information technology. Bell has chosen a beautiful potential site for the incubator, the building of CHAMPS Software Inc. in Meadowcrest, Crystal River. Built in 1984, the professional services building has three distinct spaces inside naturally lit with huge windows. Outside, it is surrounded with decks and is raised on stilts because water from a well flows underneath it for natural heating and cooling. It was green before green began, Bell said. The CHAMPS building is Bells first choice for a site when applying for the grant to fund the program. Its about 25 years old and assessed at $919,000, according to the Citrus County Property Appraiser. Shes seeking federal funding through the Economic Development Administration, and is emphasizing the encouragement of clean, green businesses. Thats why Bell asked Walt Stachowicz, president of the Citrus County Green Business Council, to look at the building. Its a good design, Stachowicz said. It has a head start already. But it needs work to make it even more energy efficient. For one thing, its a good-looking building with a lot of glass. It has so much glass, Stachowicz said. But we can put film on it to reduce the heat gain. http://www.chronicleonline.com/cgi-bin/c2printstory.cgi?071+article+sectionname+20100... 8/23/2010
  • 2. Story reprinted from www.chronicleonline.com Page 2 of 3 The air conditioning system is cooled by the water flowing under and around the building, an attractive visual feature of the structure. We could find a more efficient well pump, Stachowicz said. He also recommended an energy audit to find more ways to conserve. Bell said she expected the building to become a great showcase for green businesses. The agencies that offer grants prefer to use existing buildings rather than see new ones constructed, she said. The site fits criteria in another way: location. Bell said the building should not be within city limits and should be centrally located. When businesses have grown to the point they no longer need support, they can use commercial space within the cities, she said. This building also would need no zoning change. Dr. Philip Geist, area director for the Small Business Development Center, has been working EDA representatives for grants for the building, Bell said. Phil has worked with incubators in Alachua County and brings his experience to the program, Bell said. Randy Berridge, president of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, also has been working with Bell on the business incubator project. Bell said the council, which was established by the Florida Legislature in 1996 to attract, retain and grow high-tech industry and to help develop the workforce to support those industries, has put more than 130 businesses through the incubator process. The result has been to create about 1,000 direct jobs with an average pay of $60,000 a year and more than 1,000 indirect jobs, Bell said. More than $200 million has been brought to Florida because of incubator businesses, Bell said. If a grant is approved for this building, Bell said the plan would be to buy it from its owner, Chandra Patel, president and owner of CHAMPS Software, and rent it back to him. CHAMPS occupies a third of the building. Mobiform, a web-based business, rents another third. The last third is vacant. A partition would be built to secure CHAMPS, Bell said. The plan for the remainder of the building would be to reconfigure the spaces within the building using partitions, so spaces could grow with the incubated businesses. The interior also includes a conference room, a kitchen and an old server room, the space of which can be used by businesses. When set up, the businesses will have a shared reception area with a receptionist. It will give new businesses an address and phone number and a place to bring their clients, Bell said. They will have VOIP phones, so they can take their phone numbers with them when they leave. While expecting many businesses to be Web based, potential clients could be any type of business needing office space with support. Its got to be a scalable business, one that can continue to grow, Bell said. Entrepreneurs wanting to use the business incubator program would apply to the programs board of directors, which would be composed of representatives from the EDC, the county, the cities of Inverness and Crystal River, Central Florida Community College, the Withlacoochee Technical Institute and University of Central Florida, for example, Bell said. We would then monitor the business, Bell said. The rule would be that a business could stay for three years. Three years, and they are out, Bell said. Or at least no more than five years. http://www.chronicleonline.com/cgi-bin/c2printstory.cgi?071+article+sectionname+20100... 8/23/2010
  • 3. Story reprinted from www.chronicleonline.com Page 3 of 3 The program seems to be an idea whose time has come. Were in a good atmosphere to get it done, Bell said. Weve got the EDC and the chamber working together now. The timing also is good for a still-struggling economy. We need it for putting people back to work, Bell said. My goal next year is to get businesses in here and working. Copyright www.chronicleonline.com. All rights reserved. Print this article | Close this print window http://www.chronicleonline.com/cgi-bin/c2printstory.cgi?071+article+sectionname+20100... 8/23/2010