Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

May 10, 2007 issue

Preliminary Drawings Completed for
Appalachian Enterprise Center

Plans Moving Forward for Creating Incubator Space

Story by Sam Calhoun

Preliminary drawings for the planned incubator space inside the Appalachian Enterprise Center (AEC), located in the Human Services Center off Poplar Grove Connector in Boone, arrived from architects this week. According to Joe Furman, director of Watauga County Planning and Inspections, the formal drawings for the center that will include incubator space for 15 to 20 tenants are not done and the county has yet to call for construction bids.

“That’s what’s next,” said Furman, who said that the center will have room for roughly 17 tenants but that the spaces will be flexible to accommodate large and small operations. 

The AEC—the space formerly served as a small business incubator in the 1990s—will be a one-stop resource for people wishing to open or people who have already opened a small business in Watauga County and will eventually expand to help others in the northwest North Carolina region.

“We hope to be ready for occupancy in the fall,” said Furman.

Currently, ASU’s Appalachian Regional Development Institute (ARDI), the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), the Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), AdvantageWest and the Tourism Development Authority (TDA) occupy a portion of the space. In the future, ASU’s Energy Center and North Carolina’s Regional Economic Development Commission will also occupy a portion of the space. All these organizations will share the space with the incubators.

Once the formal drawings are in hand and bids for construction are received, renovations will begin to create the incubator spaces, Furman said. A $100,000 Community Development Block Grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce and a $190,000 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission will fund renovations.

The Watauga Committee of 100—made up of area bankers, economic developers and business owners—will lease the AEC from the county and will manage and market the facility. The Watauga Committee of 100, Furman said, will accept applications and set the rate for renting incubator spaces. Furman expects the Watauga Committee of 100 to begin accepting applications in late summer and said that he expects rental for the incubator spaces to be “less than the market rates.”

Before renovations begin on the center, the space will be the location of a series of entrepreneurial development workshops. A free, three-part Start Your Own Business workshop series will be held at the AEC on May 29, June 12 and July 10. To register for the workshop, click to www.ardi.appstate.edu/abc/register.php.

The High Country Business Network will meet at the AEC on Thursday, May 17, at 5:15 p.m. and provide information about the facility. The event is free and open to the general public.