Innovation Hub doubles in size, making room for more startups

To keep up with Gainesville’s startup scene booms, UF’s Innovation Hub has opened a new wing, adding nearly 100 office areas.

The Innovation Hub, located at 747 SW Second Ave., completed construction on its expansion in December and officially opened its second wing last Tuesday. The expansion doubled the Hub’s size to a total of 100,000 square feet and also includes eight large workrooms and eight wet labs for biomedical companies, according to a UF News release.

Construction to expand the building began in November 2016 after running out of space for companies to use, according to Alligator archives. The expansion was funded by an $8 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and an additional $9 million from UF.

The Hub serves as an incubator to up-and-coming companies, ranging from drones to food trucks, said director of incubation services Mark Long.

“Business incubators are not just buildings but programs to help startup companies grow, find capital, find employees,” Long said. "Anything it takes to incubate or grow a company, we provide that."

The City of Gainesville itself is a hub for startup companies, largely because of STEM graduates, Long said.

The Hub hosted a “Fall of the Wall” event to celebrate the end of construction in its lobby Dec. 8. More than 120 people listened to live music and signed the temporary wall dividing the two wings during construction.

“It was an awesome event to get a lot of people in the start-up ecosystem in Gainesville together,” Long said.

Contact Amanda Rosa at arosa@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @AmandaNicRosa.

UF's Innovation Hub's lobby