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Town agrees to design and costing for innovation hub

The proposed 45,000-square-foot building is estimated to cost $9 million with $4.6 million coming from GreenTRIP funds allocated to the construction of the transit hub.
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Leaders from Cochrane’s tech sector attended this past Monday’s council meeting to show their support for the town’s proposed innovation hub.
Included was a letter of support signed by local tech success stories Garmin, 4iiii Innovations and mcThings.

The facility, which will be geared toward helping foster new, innovative technology businesses in the community, is proposed to piggyback on the new transit hub facility.

Town CAO, Dave Devana, spent an hour outlining the economic case for the tech hub that he emphasized would be self-sufficient and not result in additional taxes.

The proposed 45,000-square-foot building is estimated to cost $9 million with $4.6 million coming from GreenTRIP funds allocated to the construction of the transit hub.

The remaining funds must be borrowed, but Devana said the debt servicing and facility’s operating costs will be covered by a combination of commercial leases and revenue from town services that will be moved to part of the new three-storey building.

Devana added borrowing the money will not put the town near its borrowing limit and will not affect any future projects.

“The business plan demonstrates that construction and operation of a combined transit hub and innovation centre is feasible,” said Devana.

Aside from its business development implications, Devana added the facility will be designed to create development interest in the Railway Street West, Grande Avenue and Bow Street corridor.

Devana said the innovation centre will make Cochrane a tech leader in the province and possibly the nation.

“We are already a leader in that we have over 450 innovation centre type employees. If we set up the incubator we will certainly become an example of how one goes about diversifying their economy.”

Mayor Jeff Genung, who was part of exploration missions to Ontario over the summer exploring the success of  Waterloo’s innovation centre, was excited by Devana’s business plan.

Along with the transit hub, the project would incorporate a community plaza, additional parking and a new pedestrian crossing over the train tracks at Second Avenue West.

Genung is confident the innovation centre will be a boon to the community and help further develop Cochrane’s place in the tech sector.

“Cochrane continues to see a growing and rapidly evolving tech and innovation sector,” said Genung. “Through investment in a tech incubator, we are providing space for the incubation of new businesses and new jobs in our community.”

Councillors also liked the concept that the plan leverages the provincial GreenTRIP funding to create something that will help diversify the economy.

It is proposed that the innovation centre – temporarily dubbed the Cochrane Innovation Outpost – be governed by an advisory board, whose primary focus is to foster expansion of the innovation sector to create high-quality jobs. An executive director, in collaboration with economic development staff, will operate the facility and manage day-to-day operations.

Council expressed their support for the project each seeing it as an opportunity to create opportunities for employment in town.

Coun. Susan Flowers said fostering tech jobs would be an excellent way to keep community youth in town instead of forcing them to move away to find work.
However, Coun. Tara McFadden might have summed up the initiative best in her comments before council approved Devana’s request.

“We’re finally at a day as a municipality where we can step forward and meaningfully invest in our economy. It’s by accident and great luck and local business leaders having visions that we’re a bit of a tech hub. By making this decision tonight, it’s the first step of making Cochrane a tech hub by both design and desire.”

With council’s approval, detailed design work on the transit hub and innovation centre project is anticipated to start in fall 2019 and take approximately 15 months to complete, with a target occupancy of December 2020. Administration will bring the detailed design and costing back to council on Dec. 9, 2019 for final project approval.

Should the design concept come forward at a higher anticipated cost, Devana said there will be an updated business plan for council’s consideration.

 

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