Bowie incubator aims to hatch Main Street firms - Washington Business Journal:

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The city is not pursuiny a high-tech facility, examples of which already exist in Montgomerh andPrince George's counties and have been popular destinations for buddinf biotech and information technology companies. Bowie's approacy will be more geared towardeMain Street, said John Henry King, the city's economidc development director. The has approvedd $50,000 to hire a consultantf to develop a plan fora "general business incubator, or one that caters to professional services operationw and non-technology companies. "Therde are no shortages of places to goif you're a tech company," King "but what about other kinds of businesses ?
We think we can fill a gap in the A 2007 feasibility study showed that Bowire could support such a as a complement to existing Prince George's incubators at and the , and one in Largl that caters to technology Incubators offer shared space and such as telephone and Internet support, to fledglinbg companies. Rent is often set at cheaper rates toreducse start-up costs for the companies, and most incubatot facilities have strict timelines for the tenantzs to "graduate," or move from the facility to expand elsewhere. King said he hopees to issue a request for proposal s for an incubator consultant sometime in thecominfg weeks.
The consultant will identify funding such as state and regional economicxdevelopment entities, as well as potential locations for the Bowie probably cannot afford to operate the incubator by itself and may need a private-sectoer partner to support the operation, King said. The 2007 stud performed for the city said a basic incubatorr facility with 18 tenants coulds cost morethan $640,000 annually to operatw by its fifth year. "We're talking aboutf hundreds of thousands of dollarsza year," King said. "It's a significanf commitment.
" Montgomery County's business innovation network is perhaps theWashingtonh area's most recognizable incubator The county has four such facilities that have graduatede more than 70 companies and addedc more than 1,700 jobs to Montgomery's laboe force. One of Montgomery's incubators, the , has been open sincd June 2006 and is crafted in the same moldas Bowie'e proposed facility. The Wheaton property, in the Westfield Shoppingtowhretail complex, started at 9,000 square feet and lateer expanded to 12,000 square said John Korpela, Montgomery's managefr of business innovation centers. The Wheaton incubator has 21 tenants.
The businessezs include a realestate service, a pair of marketingg companies, an international business consultantf and an accountant, Korpela said. Montgomery didn'tt fund the incubators entirely by itself to Korpela said. The countyh was helped by state grants and assistance from the once the facilities got up and running and snared their shareof tenants, some became self-sustaininy entities, he said. The Wheaton property stillo receives a subsidy ofabout $150,000 from Montgomery annually to support its operations.