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Saturday, May 27, 2006 The Greenville Business Incubator is a Town-owned facility located at 76 Spruce Street. The facility was built with a variety of federal, state, and local funds, the local funds coming in the form of a $75,000 general obligation bond approved by the voters of Greenville two years ago. However, the repayment of this bond, as well as the operation of the facility, has come entirely from the proceeds of lease revenue, remaining grant funds, and shared funds with our incubator's sister facility in Sanford Maine. How does this work? The Greenville Business Incubator (GBI) is designed to allow manufacturers to lease space for their operations, to grow stronger through the use of modern space, low rent, and business planning assistance. The Incubator is administered by the Composites Technology Centers Corporation (CTC), a group formed for the sole purpose of promoting the composites industry in the State of Maine through the implementation of two business incubators – one in Sanford, one in Greenville – and one research center – the University of Maine's Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) Center – in Orono. The Board of Directors for the CTC, along with its Executive Director, recruits tenants, and assist them in business planning and business growth. The Town of Greenville serves as the property manager, and effectively as the landlord, for the tenants within the GBI. Costs for services provided at the Incubator, such as plowing, mowing, electricity, etc., are ultimately paid for by the tenants. Any shortfalls in these costs are covered by the CTC, which has additional revenue streams available to it from tenant leases in the Sanford facility, as well as management grants from the State of Maine. The Incubators in Greenville and Sanford are part of the State of Maine's Advanced Technology Development Centers (ATDC) program. There are seven such incubators across the state in seven different subject areas (Precision Manufacturing, Biotechnology, Information Technology, Composite Materials, Aquaculture, Forestry and Agriculture Technologies; Environment Technology). The GBI is part of the Composite Materials Technology Center, but as such, provides a non-exclusive focus on composite manufacturers as tenants. Although composite companies such as Pepin Associates (a Greenville-based company which develops new composites parts primarily for the aeronautics industry) and Correct Building Materials (a Biddeford-based wood-plastic composite manufacturer) are each examples of companies which would fit ideally in our incubator, space within the Greenville Business Incubator is available on a first-come, first serve basis for any manufacturer in need of such space. The CTC Board reviews the application of businesses looking to lease space at the center, and makes recommendations to the Board of Selectmen, who also sign the lease for new business tenants. As the majority of the funding for this project came from the State of Maine in an effort to promote growth in composites businesses, this field will always be our focus. However, the State has recently revised their focus to allow any technology center to host businesses in any of the seven identified technology fields predominately. In addition to this latitude, the CTC Directors and the Board of Selectmen recognize the importance of flexibility to best serve the business community and to balance our budget. If a business wished to lease space from the GBI and the business in question does not manufacture anything related to these seven fields, the CTC and the Town of Greenville would have to weigh the benefit of having a non-target business locate in our space versus holding that space (empty) until another manufacturer in one of the target fields approached us. We do not wish to exclude any business which wishes to use the Greenville Business Incubator. Indeed, when Mobotec, Inc., a company working with the Greenville Steam Company to complete renovation work at their plant, approached us to lease office space for 6-7 months, we were glad to accommodate them. Rather than leave this space empty, we were able to both accommodate this company and secure additional revenue to pay overhead costs at the GBI. Our main tenant – Maine House Furniture Company – is a non-composites, wood products manufacturer from Abbot who makes custom furniture. The Maine House Furniture Company – which sells most of their product wholesale to companies in the mid-Atlantic states – has retained their retail space in Abbot and moved (and expanded) their manufacturing space to Greenville. They employ two workers part-time, in addition to the owners, and are currently looking for more help. Dominic Poiss of Greenville, one of the owners of the company, can be found working at the GBI most weekdays during business hours: please stop in to say hello! The Greenville Business Incubator has available both manufacturing space and also office space and limited conference room space. The remaining 3,500 sq. ft. of manufacturing space can be seen by appointment. Please contact me at the Greenville Town Office (695-2261 or John@GreenvilleME.com) if you have any interest in this space. The first Wednesday of each month, a business development specialist from Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC) holds office hours from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the GBI to answer questions from business owners or those who may want to go into business. How to build a business plan, where to secure working capital or construction loans, how to develop and implement a marketing plan, where to find suitable locations for development, are all questions EMDC's representatives can either answer. The Greenville Business Incubator will be open from 11:00 AM to 1:30 PM this Friday, June 2, 2006 for the final edition of this year's Lunch & Lecture Series. The public is invited to tour our facility, have lunch, and hear a presentation by CTC Executive Director Gordon Davis on how the Greenville Business Incubator can help your business to succeed. Please RSVP Cindy at the Greenville Town Office (695-2421 or Cindy@GreenvilleME.com) if you plan to attend. The GBI is private-public partnership which offers the opportunity for business growth in the greater Greenville area. How we use this facility – what use we make of this opportunity – is up to all of us as a community. Please learn about our Business Incubator, ask questions, and offer suggestions. Together, this project can be, over time, a successful tool to leverage new investment and job growth in our regional economy. Please help us to succeed! Sincerely; John Simko, Town Manager – Town of Greenville |