Rockville Town Square makes way for new incubator

BYLINE: Joe Coombs

Rockville will get more than 40 new retailers and restaurants when a $350 million town square project opens this spring, but there's another element to the project that could provide a boost to the city.

Montgomery County is starting to accept applications for its fourth incubator facility, planned for two floors above an arts complex at Rockville Town Square.

The incubator is expected to serve up to 45 health care, technology and bioinformatics companies that are starting up their operations, says John Korpela, Montgomery County's manager of business incubator development.

A review board is scheduled to hear the first three applications Jan. 30 for space at the Rockville Innovation Center, which will span about 25,000 square feet on two floors and have about 50 offices.

"We've got one tech company flying in from England that has established business in the U.S. and needs an office," Korpela says. "We've also got a pair of local tech companies we'll be hearing from."

Montgomery County's current incubator network -- the Maryland Technology Development Center, Silver Spring Innovation Center and Wheaton Business Innovation Center -- has maintained at least a 90 percent occupancy rate since 2003, Korpela says. The three facilities combined have about 340 employees.

Future incubator complexes are planned in Germantown, where the county is teaming up with Montgomery College to offer space to biotech and information technology firms, and on the county's east side near the new U.S. Food and Drug Administration campus.

Tenants at the Rockville Innovation Center won't have to go far for help. The center will be within a block of economic development offices that represent the city, county and state, says Sally Sternbach, executive director of Rockville Economic Development.


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Montgomery Co.'s incubators

Maryland Technology Development Center

A 60,000-square-foot facility with 24 wet labs and 60 offices, its tenant mix includes bioscience, information technology and wireless companies. Opened in 1999 and has 200 workers.