Asset Classes: Incubator
Project Year: 2006
An old Sears store that lay vacant for over 20 years is the new site of the Entrepreneurial Center located in the heart of Birmingham’s Downtown West Urban Redevelopment District. The $17.8 million renovation project includes the redevelopment of an entire city block in a run down section of downtown Birmingham. The Sears building has become the consolidated space for the Business Incubator for the Entrepreneurial Center (EC) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Biotechnology / Life Sciences Incubator (OADI). The combined effort was renamed The Innovation Depot. The CDE, Wachovia Community Development Enterprises, (WCDE) offered New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) financing of $14 million from its 2005 allocation.