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City of Franklin Incubator
Overview
As a result of the devastating flooding caused by Hurricane Floyd, the City of Franklin was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA). The primary purpose of the grant involved the renovation of a 40,000 square-foot former peanut warehouse owned by the City into the Franklin Business Incubator (FBI) for entrepreneurial head-start businesses.
Approach
Community Planning Partners was integral to the project's success by securing the EDA grant and participating in the design of the building's adaptive reuse. In addition, the firm provided project oversight to assist the City in fully complying with all federal and state regulations associated with grant. Opened in 2005, the building quickly filled to maximum occupancy as well as attracted the admiration of small business development professionals around the Commonwealth.
In 2008, the Franklin Business Incubator was awarded the Virginia Economic Development Association's Community Economic Developers Award based on the project's innovativeness, transferability, community commitment and leverage, measured objectives, and secondary benefits.
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