With more than 363,000 square feet of multi-use warehouse and office space, Spartanburg County’s Center for Business and Entrepreneurial Development (CBED) is the fourth-largest business incubator in the country, according to the National Business Incubation Association. It is the largest in the Southeast.
The facility is located at the Spartanburg Community College (SCC) Tyger River Campus near I-85 and Highway 290 in Duncan. Additional office space is currently under construction. It provides businesses with services including incubator services, soft landings, workforce employment services and special projects.
“The Center has served over 25 companies since 2006 and has assisted in the creation of over 3,900 jobs, approximately $200 million in company earnings, and over $10 million in combined income and sales tax revenue for the state,” said Mike Forrester, SCC’s executive director of economic development, in a statement. “The Center has proven to be a valuable resource for startup companies, industry and our community.”
Among the current eight tenants are A.L. Industries, an Israeli company establishing its first U.S. manufacturing operation for automotive air filters. Motion Mekanix provides programming, consulting and training for robots and applications. Two companies, EcoStar and Trimite, are among those using the incubator’s warehouse facilities.
Previous clients of the Center include Adidas, Amazon, BMW, Jankel Tactical Systems, Master Precision Global and Wal-Mart, among others.
The largest business incubator facility in the nation is the Batavia Industrial Center in New York with 950,000 square feet, followed by the BioSquare in Boston with 700,000 square feet and then the Fulton-Carroll Center in Chicago, housing 400,000 square feet of space. According to NBIA, only eight percent of incubation programs reporting have facilities larger than 100,000 square feet. However, business incubator programs are on the rise with approximately 1,400 in operation in North America in 2012, compared to 1,100 in 2006.
