Downtown Youngstown Business incubator will expand into adjacent building

By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
YOUNGSTOWN -- The director of the Youngstown Business Incubator expects a $1 million expansion project to begin soon.
Jim Cossler said the renovation of a Boardman Street building behind the incubator had been delayed while the board of directors considered another way to expand.
He said funds for the other proposal, which included knocking down adjacent buildings, don't appear to be available from the state, so he expects the board to approve the renovation plan.
He said he isn't sure when the board will decide but he expects work to begin shortly.
The other proposal called for a new building, which would have been used as office space for companies that leave the incubator.
Room for more tenants
The renovation plan would add 8,000 square feet to the 35,000 square feet that the incubator has at its Federal Plaza West building downtown. That is enough room to allow the incubator to add more tenants, but it isn't enough to provide office space for companies that leave the incubator, Cossler said.
The building to be renovated is connected to the incubator by an aerial walkway. The incubator has $1 million from the state to complete the project.
The additional space would provide enough room for four or five start-up companies.
The incubator had proposed a $4.9 million project last year but wasn't able to raise the funds to complete it.
That proposal included renovating the Boardman Street building and adding a computer lab with high-end servers. Part of the fund-raising campaign was to provide for an endowment to support the higher operating costs that the lab would have added.
Companies move on
Incubator tenants don't pay rent and receive free services.
When they reach a certain size, they leave the incubator.
Three companies left in the incubator's most recent fiscal year, which ended June 30, according to an annual report filed Monday.
Proscout Software, a software application developer, moved to Boardman. Ennen Telecommunication, which engineers wireless networks, moved to Girard. Crew Networking, another networking company, was acquired by Valley Electrical Consolidated of Liberty.
The incubator has 11 tenants, and all but a couple are technology companies. The state funds the incubator and has given the incubator a mission to develop tech companies.
Cossler said the incubator has about 4,000 square feet of available space because of the companies that have left, but some of that space is being reserved for expansion of current tenants.
Sales figure
Four of the current tenants haven't marketed products yet so they have no sales revenue. The other companies had annual sales of $4.7 million in the last fiscal year.
They employed 91 and had a payroll of $3.4 million. They also received four patents.
Companies that moved in during the fiscal year were Infinite Progress, technology consulting and training company; Intelleture, which develops electronic-commerce software; Torque Corp., software developer; and Turning Technologies, software developer.
shilling@vindy.com