Ann Arbor SPARK expandswith "stage two" space for growing start-ups

In downtown Ann Arbor, there's a pretty big gap between a start-up with a couple of employees and one that is ready to sign an expensive, multi-year lease for a commercial space. The ever-busy Ann Arbor SPARK Central incubator is now giving their tenants the chance to better bridge that gap with the addition of 2,500 square feet of space dedicated to "stage two" startups.

 

"If I have eight employees, but I know I'm going to have 20 a year form now, it's hard for me to find a commercial lease," says Bill Mayer, business accelerator director for SPARK. "What the expansion allows is space for someone who secures external revenue, has four to five full-time equivalent employees, and they're getting too big for our stage one incubator." 

 

 SPARK Central has long been continually at full capacity. It's original footprint, which is now its stage one area, provides 14 desks for tenants, some of which use  multiple desks. The new stage two space has an open office place and can hold about 30 workers. Two companies are already working in the new space, and Mayer expects two more to move in next week, filling it to capacity.

 

"This falls into one of those good-problem-to-have categories," says Mayer, "but our goal is to have our companies graduate. We don't want them to have a residency with us this longer than 12 to 18 months."

 

Transformation is also afoot at the SPARK East incubator in Ypsilanti, where a large conference room has been renovated into co-working facility. SPARK will continue to hold events and host community groups in the same space.