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Florida County Business Accelerator Sees High Demand

Leaders of about 20 small startups have expressed interest in joining Collier County's tech-based accelerator, and managers are taking steps to ensure they have enough space.

(Tribune News Service) -- Due to high demand, Collier County may rent a little more office space than expected to house its new tech-based business accelerator.

Leaders of about 20 small companies have said they’re interested in joining the new program, and managers want to make sure they have enough space, said Joseph Paterno, executive director of the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board.

Paterno and the county’s business development leaders will ask commissioners Tuesday to approve a five-year lease to house the accelerator at a 9,000 square-foot site at Kraft Office Center near Pine Ridge Road and Interstate 75.

“The hope is that we could fit 20 to 30 companies at a single time,” Paterno said. “Then as the companies continue to grow, they can move out and add more staff and increase our workforce.”

County officials originally thought the project would need 4,000 to 6,000 square feet.

Like an incubator, the accelerator aims to help small startups and international technology firms break into the market.

It will take a few months to have the site ready, Paterno said. In the meantime, the county will rent a smaller temporary spot in the office park.

Two companies have already worked with the accelerator through an early pilot program, including a 3D printing company, which has since moved to its own site on J&C Boulevard.

“That’s how it’s supposed to work,” Paterno said. “We work to get them to grow, and they hopefully hire local people and flourish.”

Rent will run the county $102,000 for the first year and $192,000 — or $20.50 per square foot — each year after that.

State lawmakers set aside $2.5 million last year for the project, which will include a second accelerator in Immokalee that focuses on helping culinary and food service businesses. Collier County is expected to provide $1.3 million for the two accelerators, including $500,000 this year.

If the accelerators fail to generate 208 full-time jobs over five years, or $12.5 million in private sector investments, the county would have to return the $2.5 million in state funding.

Commissioners picked Marshall Goodman, a former university administrator, to manage the accelerators once they’re up and running.

The Naples Daily News reported in October that it’s unclear how much experience Goodman has starting successful incubators, and a University of South Florida manager who ran incubators claimed Goodman misled the public about their success during his tenure.

The Immokalee accelerator is still being designed and is scheduled to open in March 2016, said Kate Albers, county spokeswoman.

It will be built in the Immokalee airport’s technology park and feature a large kitchen, bakery, freezers and package and assembly space, Albers said.

The accelerator will work with small- to mid-sized companies working with new food technologies in the agribusiness or culinary sectors, she said.

©2015 the Naples Daily News (Naples, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC