The Wayne State University Research and Technology Park is creating a new entrepreneurial village beginning with a new name and the renovation of a former GM building.
The Research and Technology Park has adopted the name "TechTown" and is also breaking ground on a $12 million renovation of GM's former Chevrolet Creative Services building. The groundbreaking ceremony for the park will be held, Tuesday, July 15th at 10 a.m., on the corner of Cass Avenue and Burroughs Street.
The renovation of the building is being funded by a number of private and public entities that are in partnership with TechTown. The core and outer shell of the former GM building, originally built in 1927, will undergo renovation along with the first and fifth floors. The building has been renamed TechOne.
The first floor will have offices for TechTown staff and a conference center for business development activities. There will also be space for retail and dry labs suited for advanced engineering and information technology companies.
The fifth floor will house a combination of wet and dry labs and offices geared for life sciences companies.
The remaining floors of the 100,000-square-foot TechOne building will be revamped in stages of one per year or sooner depending on demand and funding. TechOne, which sits on Burroughs Street between Cass and Second Avenues, was donated by GM.
TechTown is the Wayne State affiliated non-profit partnership in the Woodward Technology Corridor SmartZone. It is functioning as an economic development site for start-up companies involved in research and technology related industries.
The geographic location of TechTown is the 47-acres between the University Cultural Center and New Center, just north of downtown Detroit between Woodward and Third Avenues. It is an area that at one time was teeming with business activity and which was home to 84 businesses.
In addition to the renovation of the former GM Creative Services building, TechTown's major tenant NextEnergy plans to open its new center by the summer of 2004. NextEnergy broke ground on a 40,000-square-foot building across the street from TechOne last December. The center will have space for laboratories, exhibits and meetings.
"What we envision is a thriving entrepreneurial village in which the innovative ideas and technology being developed by our TechTown companies come to the attention of willing investors," said TechTown Executive Director Howard Bell. "We also see it becoming a vibrant neighborhood and an integral part of the city's renaissance."
Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid, who also chairs the TechTown board, said he is looking forward to the growth of TechTown.
"The groundbreaking marks the beginning of a new chapter in the history of this section of Detroit and Wayne State," Reid said. "We look forward to the TechTown moniker becoming synonymous with cutting edge technology and innovative research in the same manner as Silicon Valley in Northern California or North Carolina's Research Triangle."
TechTown is a non-profit organization governed by local industry, community and government leaders. Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid chairs the Board. Howard Bell is the Executive Director.