Hamden Business Incubator Project Moving Forward

It's been a community center and a school, and this month the empty building at 496 Newhall St. is closer to becoming a business incubator.

On Nov.7 the Connecticut Historic Commission approved property for listing on the State Register of Historic Places. The plan for the building is it will be home to up to 20 small businesses, encouraging networking and business to business activities. 

“This designation insures that this building will be preserved for generations”, stated Dale Kroop, Executive Director of the Hamden Economic Development Corporation. HEDC will own and operate the incubator. 

"We believe that this building is beautiful and is perfect in its layout for the intended use for small businesses," Kropp said of the 39,000 square foot building. "We look forward to making improvements that bring out the historic features of the building."

And this week, the town of Hamden agreed to sell the building to HEDC in anticipation of the construction of the incubator, which will provide common amenities such as rest rooms, utilities, security, WiFi meeting space and a reception area. 

“The idea is to provide affordable space to very small businesses so that they could grow into larger space and create jobs for Hamden residents," Kroop said. "The types of companies we will be looking for will be for business such as light manufacturing, web designers, small service businesses and medical office administrative functions."

The Historic Designation also allows HEDC to raise funding through the sale of historic tax credits. These funds will be used for the construction build-out of the interior space as well as for the improvements to the exterior of the building in accordance with standards established by the State Historic Commission. 

Other funding the for the rehabilitation of the building will come from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and other sources such as the Federal EPA. 

An important feature of the Incubator will be technical service provided on site for business planning purposes, Kroop said. The Coordinator of the Business Assistance Center (BAC), Richard Pearce will provide on site help on an ongoing basis, he said. 

The BAC will also conduct training for entrepreneurs for businesses from out side of the incubator.  The services and seminar will focus on business planning and growth, access to funding, and growth planning and real estate assistance services.

For more information about the Hamden Business Incubator or the Hamden Economic Development Corporation, go to www.hamdeneconomicdevelopment.org or contact Kroop at dkroop@hamden.com