BusAccel Entrepreneurial Neighborhoods
BusAccel is working closely with Dubuque Main Street, Greater Dubuque Development Corporation, City of Dubuque, several county economic development directors and northeast Iowa property owners to establish Entrepreneural Neighborhoods across the region.
This innovative model involves permanently locating high growth businesses in large under-utilized facilities in need of redevelopment that are willing to reserve space that can be built out on an as-needed basis.
Main Street Iowa Challenge Grant Awarded
The Iowa Department of Economic Development awarded Dubuque Main Street an $80,000 challenge grant award. Grant proceeds will fund remodeling expenses for the first Entrepreneurial Neighborhood location at 1000 Jackson Street, Dubuque Iowa.
Dan LoBianco, Executive Director, Dubuque Main Street (right), Tim McNamara, Owner, Wimac Property Company (center) and Brian Dalziel, Regional Director, BusAccel (second from left) participate in a press conference with Iowa Governor Chet Culver and US Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) in Des Moines on Saturday, February 3, 2007.
Flexibility is Primary Benefit
An Entrepreneurial Neighborhood is a business office space model intended to provide flexibility to growing companies. Allocated space consists of two components:
- Occupied space
- Reserved space held for future expansion at no cost
For example, a high growth business with 15 employees could initially occupy three thousand sq. ft. of office space. As they add staff, they could incrementally grow over the ensuing five years into ten thousand sq. ft. of space to support over 50 team members.
Literally, reserved space can be studded, sheet rocked and finished on a room-by-room basis as growth needs dictate.
A company can grow rapidly without the major distraction of moving and without tying up into facilities its precious liquid capital that could and should be utilized to finance growth.
Advantages Abound
In addition to the flexibility to significantly grow without moving, additional advantages of locating in an Entrepreneurial Neighborhood include:
- Entrepreneurs locate next to like-minded individuals, enabling opportunities to conveniently and frequently share ideas
- Unique architectural and design elements inspire creativity
- Businesses present a professional image to customers, vendors and investors.
Site of First Entrepreneurial Neighborhood
A warehouse located at the intersection of East 10th Street and Jackson Street in Dubuque will be the first BusAccel Entrepreneurial Neighborhood. Owned by Wilmac Property Co., this facility offers 25,000 sq. ft. of space per floor on five floors.
Office space for entrepreneurs is targeted for floors two and three. Residential condominiums are planned for floors four and five.
The Entrepreneurial Neighborhood is wide open and ready for build out.
Attractive architectural features include brick walls, large windows, wood beams, wood columns, high ceilings and ha
rdwood floors.
Redeveloping under-utilized warehouse space enables flexible office layouts that can be designed to meet today's and tomorrow's needs of entrepreneurs running high growth companies.
In addition to flexibility and efficiency, the architectural elements present in these facilities enable an office design that inspires creativity. Entprepreneurial ventures thrive on 
creativity, and the opportunity to inspire more creativity among team members is significant.
Designs that facilitate formal and informal communication and collaboration between team members will be utilized, as illustrated in these photographs of existing warehouse offices owned by Wilmac.
Shared spaces will be available to foster interaction between "neighbors" to facilitate synergies that accelerate growth of Neighborhood companies.
Additional Entrepreneurial Neighborhood Sites Identified
Several additional candidate locations have been identified on Main Street and in the Warehouse District of Dubuque. Candidate locations have also been identified in other northeast Iowa communities. Over 1 million sq. ft. of space has been identified as available for redevelopment.
Property owners wishing to participate in establishing an Entrepreneurial Neighborhood location are encouraged to call Brian Dalziel at BusAccel at 563.557.8271 x250.