A new downtown hub for Hamilton County high school students learning career skills will include space for the county’s business development program, officials announced Wednesday.
The incubator program at the county’s Business Development Center allows local businesses to pay subsidized rent for three to five years while growing operations, depending on the kind of business.
Participating businesses were told Monday that the county is looking at selling the Business Development Center on Chattanooga’s North Shore.
County Mayor Weston Wamp, speaking alongside Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly and Superintendent Justin Robertson, said during a press conference Wednesday that the program will move into the Franklin-Roberts Future Ready Center planned at a former BlueCross BlueShield building at Gateway Avenue and West M.L. King Boulevard.
The center will likely be fully operational by fall 2028, Wamp said in an interview after the press conference, though he said he assumes the incubator portion of the building will be ready sooner than that.