Overall, The Innovation Hub at 16 Tech will create 75 construction jobs (15% will be accessible to low-income persons), support over 1,500 permanent jobs throughout The District (20% will be LIP accessible), at least 15% of subcontracting opportunities will benefit minority- and women-owned businesses, and below-market and flexible leases for its tenants. For the three nodes of activities, the key impacts will be over 4,000 workforce development participants through the Purdue Extension, 720 memberships for the co-working space, 100 memberships for the makerspace, and 28 food entrepreneurs will sell their culinary goods to over 125,000 annual retail customers. The 16 Tech Innovation District is creating a Community Investment Fund that will allow for charitable efforts to revitalize the surrounding low-income community. The Fund will be perpetually capitalized from a $0.20 per SF assessment from all tenants in the Innovation District, which will equate to $400k annually for community programming.
Located in Indiana’s new 16 Tech Innovation District (“16 Tech” or “The District”), Urban Action Community Development (UACD) provided $7.5MM in NMTC allocation to 16 Tech Community Corporation (“16TCC”) and Browning Investments for the adaptive reuse of the 105,000 SF former Citizens Energy Group headquarters building into a facility that will serve as 16 Tech’s heart of activity and is a critical component for positioning 16 Tech into a world-class innovation district. The Innovation Hub at 16 Tech (“the Project” and “The Innovation Hub”) consists of three distinct activity nodes: co–working and business incubation space, an advanced makerspace and fabrication studio, and a culinary incubator supporting Indiana’s agriculture and food entrepreneurs. The Philadelphia based company, 1776, will lead the development and operation of the co-working and incubation space and various entrepreneurial networking events. Operated by Idea Foundry, the makerspace will be a 100+ membership-based workshop and fabrication studio where designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, external innovation groups, students, aspiring makers and other creatives access state-of-the-art machines, tools, and a broad spectrum of training and coaching, and a community of like-minded makers to build their dreams and often to develop product prototypes. Managed by Craig Baker, who is a successful Indianapolis food entrepreneur, the culinary incubator will be a community grounded innovation center based on Indiana agriculture and food entrepreneurs. In addition to the three activity nodes, 16TCC is partnering with Purdue Extension, whereby the university will provide workforce development programs throughout The Innovation Hub and across the 16 Tech Innovation District. Purdue Extension will partner with 16TCC to deliver vital science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills training to The District, with the goal of elevating skill levels so that the lowest skill workers will be prepared to advance to higher skill, higher pay positions.
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