Businesses at the Hamilton County Business Development Center and Incubator in the city’s North Shore were told Monday that the county was considering selling the building in which they are growing their burgeoning operations.
On Wednesday, they learned the center would move to the Franklin-Roberts Future Ready Center currently being developed in a former BlueCross BlueShield building on the Westside, and that space would be ready at an undetermined date prior to the fall of 2028.
Some of the business owners were upset and shaken, and we don’t blame them. We wish the county had included them in an initial conversation once it appeared the incubator building would cost too much to renovate, and then in another conversation about whether the new downtown center would be appropriate.
The suddenness drew comparisons to the once-announced plans for the Chattanooga High School Center for Performing Arts to move to the Franklin-Roberts Center. The move made sense from a school facilities standpoint at the time, but it infuriated the blindsided supporters of the school, who felt its academic success and its performing arts oeuvre deserved its own space.