The Florida Innovation Hub will receive its first tenant, UF's Office of Technology Licensing, on Friday.
Located at 747 SW Second Ave., the Innovation Hub is a 48,000-square-foot business incubator designed to house start-up companies grown out of technology developed at UF and around the state.
"We're very excited about this," said Jane Muir, associate director of the Office of Technology Licensing.
She said the office is working to get the 13 start-up companies that applied for space in the incubator through the approval process. As of Thursday, eight of them were slated to move into the facility on Oct. 10.
When it's complete, Innovation Square will be a dense, full-service urban community. It will have all the elements of a larger city contained in a smaller space - the area will contain residential housing, a grocery store, hotels, restaurants, retail shops and businesses.
Construction has not yet begun on any buildings other than the Innovation Hub, said Ed Poppell, vice president for business affairs and economic development of Innovation Square.
"Right now Gainesville is a very spread-out community," Poppell said. "Do you see any tall buildings? No."
Innovation Hub, which sits on the 12 acres of land formerly occupied by Shands at AGH, will house start-up science and technology businesses, need more space to expand or have just relocated to Gainesville, Poppell said.
By nurturing them inside the business incubator, he said he hopes to increase their growth and graduate them in one to three years.
Poppell said construction on the next phase of Innovation Square, an office building for graduated companies, will begin in early 2012.
