Incubators, offices share project; $30 million complex will include 22 units for budding businesses
BYLINE: Sanford Nax The Fresno Bee
A private business incubator in Clovis is so popular that its developer is expanding the concept to another project he is building.
Case Lawrence said CargoBay will create 22 incubator units in 10,000 square feet of a new $30 million, 135,000-square-foot office complex on 10 acres at Temperance and Alluvial avenues. The five-building complex, called Portal Sierra, is a short distance from the original CargoBay, the private incubator that has a waiting list for its 50 small turnkey offices.
"We've had 300 businesses come in asking for office space," Lawrence said in explaining why CargoBay will have a presence in the new project. The new offices will be furnished to accommodate two to six people.
The remaining 125,000 square feet will be leased or sold to other businesses, including Provost & Pritchard Engineering, Cisco Systems and Marlette Associates. One of the five buildings will be divided into six office condominiums, which are spaces of 3,000 to 4,000 square feet that will be sold, Lawrence said.
Another building, called Matrix, will sit on the corner, have four stories and will have a view of the Sierra.
Cisco will eventually be a tenant in that building, which will take a little longer to complete. All five structures are being built at once, Lawrence said.
Provost & Pritchard is leasing a 12,300-square-foot building with an option to buy it, said Dale K. Melville, president. It will be the fourth office for the Fresno-based engineering company, which also has offices in Bakersfield and Visalia.
Provost & Pritchard has been adding an average of two employees a month for the last few years. The new Clovis site, which will open around October, will have about 24 employees, Melville said, and will be closer to some of its clients.
"We do work for the city of Clovis and do work for other clients in the Clovis and foothill area," he said.
It also will provide a shorter commute for employees who live in Clovis.
Currently, they drive to the main office near River Park.
The incubator concept is being expanded to other cities and regions. Other incubators in the Valley include one proposed by the Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce and the 13,000-square-foot Water and Energy Technology Incubator at California State University, Fresno.
CargoBay and Portal Sierra are the largest projects in Clovis' new research and technology park but won't be the last, said Michael Dozier, the city's community and economic development director.
Precision Plastics bought 6 acres and has an option for six more. In addition, developer Roger Peterson is purchasing 16 acres north of Alluvial Avenue and east of Temperance Avenue and plans about 200,000 square feet of offices and industrial buildings, Peterson said.
The reporter can be reached at snax@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6495.