With construction starting soon, Pine Technical College will be the future home of the new Pine Entrepreneurship Center and Technology Business Incubator, with an official groundbreaking ceremony set for April 3, 1 to 2 p.m. at the college, 900 Fourth St. SE. The incubator will house and support hi-tech and light manufacturing entrepreneurs in the community, and, at the same time, the incubator will provide PTC students access to internships and practical experience in cutting-edge, hi-tech industry.
Minnesota 8th District Congressman Rick Nolan will be a special guest at the event and will assist with breaking ground for the start of construction. Light refreshments and architectural drawings and plans of the facility will be available at a reception following the ceremony.
“It is our vision the incubator will serve as a solid foundation for highly successful companies,” says Pine Technical College President Robert Musgrove, Ph.D. “PTC can offer promising start-up companies a nurturing environment for growth as well as opportunities to tap into a rich network of business resources that are invaluable to a company’s development. Then, once they are on their feet, they will move out to the industrial park, and we will rent space to another new company,” Musgrove adds.
The building located on Highway 61 and Hillside Ave. that previously housed PTC’s Continuing Education and Customized Training department is the planned site for the incubator. The existing facility also was once the site of East Central Energy’s Pine City office. Cuningham Group Architecture was selected in Aug. 2010 to oversee the design, and more than 10 PTC staff and faculty members, administrators, and members of the larger Pine Area comprise the committee that has been working closely with the firm. Architects and the committee have been careful to design the facility in a resource-efficient manner, using renewable energy.
The project is being built with grant funding from the State of Minnesota and the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The funds will cover remodeling of the existing building and additional construction, adding 7,500 square feet designed to house light manufacturing. The project’s total cost exceeds $3 million.
The Entrepreneurship Center and Technology Business Incubator holds the potential to become an effective tool to foster an environment where manufacturing and high-tech jobs can grow and develop and to create wealth within the region. The incubator will house light manufacturing and technology-based businesses working toward producing innovative products or services, and it has been designed to house as many as three start-up companies simultaneously, as well as comfortable meeting space. PTC and a body of experts from the Pine Area will provide consulting services, technical expertise, product evaluation, assistance with marketing and business planning, and much more to start-ups and growing businesses choosing to reside in the incubator while putting down roots. With the start of construction and groundbreaking now set for April, the incubator’s first tenants may begin operations from the center as early as December, 2013.
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