Feb. 27, 2007: “Spotlight on Our Economy” Monthly Column for The Palladium-Times
By L. Michael Treadwell, CEcD, Executive Director of Operation Oswego County

Affordable Rental Rates Available for Your New or Expanding Business

If you are looking for affordable rental space for your new or expanding non-retail, industrial and service business, you need not look further than Operation Oswego County’s two small business incubator facilities located in Oswego and Phoenix.

The Oswego County Business Expansion Center (BEC) in the city of Oswego and the Start-up Facility (SUF) in the Oswego County Industrial Park off 481, exit 14 in Phoenix are designed to help businesses achieve significant growth and development during the first few years of business with the intention of eventually moving out of the building and into private commercial space. Space at both incubators is available for lease starting at $5.50 per square foot or $4.50 per square foot for a manufacturing operation.

The BEC was established by OOC as an integral part of the Oswego Empire Zone program and potential tenants may also benefit from various EZ incentives if eligible.

The BEC’s current tenants include Davis Cleaning, Home Helpers, ILRT, Inc., Under the Hammer Real Estate and Auction Service and Local News, Inc. which publishes the Oswego County Business Magazine and other specialty publications. Additionally, the Oswego County Board of Elections recently relocated its offices to the BEC in an effort to comply with new federal election laws requiring more secure storage and maintenance for all voting machines used throughout the county.

OOC’s other business incubator, the Start-Up Facility, is located immediately off state Route 481, exit 14 in the town of Schroeppel. The facility is currently fully leased by My Pet Enterprises, provider of My Doggy™ and My Kitty™ products for pets, and Fulton Machinery, a manufacturer of machinery components for the paper, film and foil converting and paper making industries.

In order to lease space in an OOC incubator facility, a tenant must:

• Be a for profit entity as a corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship;

• Be a new, start up business or an existing, expanding firm;

• Have growth potential with the prospects of creating a new product, technology or service, meeting a demand for services or creating new or expanded job opportunities;

• Must be operated on a full time basis, as the primary source of income for the primary principal; and

• Meet applicable zoning, building, fire and health codes.

All applications for occupancy in the BEC must be accompanied by a complete business plan including appropriate financial statements and projections. Special consideration is given to:

• Existing small businesses operated on a part time basis prepared to begin full-time operations;

• Firms which suffer from space, management, marketing or financial problems which severely limit their growth;

• New divisions of existing firms or research and development projects with parent companies seeking to separate from their main operations;

• Foothold plants for companies based outside Oswego County;

• Early retirees from industry, government or military who want to begin a second career; and

• Persons working to develop new technologies or to redirect present technologies.
  

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