The incubator program – now known as Das Greenhaus – officially has a place to call home after the Boerne City Council unanimously approved a lease agreement last week.
The incubator program is set to foster small, entrepreneurial business startups to grow smaller startup businesses in the area, creating jobs and loyal, community-focused companies. The Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation and the Boerne Kendall County Angel Network are working to start a nonprofit incubator to help businesses grow in their early days.
“This has been a project I have been so excited to see come to life,” BCKEDC President and CEO Amy Story said. “… I love the branding and the association of growing something here with the German name and the little nod to our town.”
The incubator will rent, at a cost expected to be below market, shared workspace and individual offices to businesses with the intention of nurturing small businesses which ideally will stay in the county or city, generating revenue through sales tax, property taxes and other measures.
The $10-a-year lease agreement between Das Greenhaus and the city of Boerne allows the new nonprofit to operate out of the former Boerne public works building at 400 E. Blanco Road, which sits between the old city hall currently up for sale and an attorney’s office. The nonprofit is set to pay the city $10 a year for a term of 10 years, ending May 31, 2032, with the option to renew the lease every five years after the initial rental term.
The lease agreement stipulates that lease renewals and the initial 10-year term may not exceed a total lease of 25 years.
Additionally, the lease agreement requires the incubator nonprofit organization to make $500,00 worth of improvements to the aging building within 24 months of the effective date of the lease agreement. Story said the $500,000 figure was suggested because she and the others getting the program off the ground saw it as a safe number.
She said they are hoping to have the entire project funded up front through grants and county funding but added the coworking or shared working spaces could be complete first if construction needed to be funded in phases.
Story said those involved in getting the project off the ground also are looking at U.S. Economic Development Administration grants, which are federal grants to help “fulfill regional economic development strategies designed to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurship, advance regional competitiveness, create higher-skill, living wage jobs, generate private investment and fortify and grow industry clusters,” according to the EDA website.
“This was the first thing to check off the box in looking at funding, looking at county participation and seeking EDA grant funding,” Story said. “So we needed to have a site ready and committed.”
Story said she sees the fourth quarter of this year to be a reasonable expectation for the new Kendall County and Boerne joint effort to begin operations, saying meeting the lease agreement requirement of having two “priority” businesses shouldn’t be a challenge. Story said there already has been marked interest in the project, with individuals reaching out to both the BKEDC and the Boerne Kendall County Angel Network.
“I don’t think the two priority businesses should be a problem at all,” Story said.
Story and Justin McKenzie, executive director of the local Angel Network, are expected to go before the Kendall County commissioners during their Feb. 14 meeting to discuss a county contribution from its American Rescue Plan Act coffers. Story and McKenzie asked the commissioners for $750,000 last November as the commissioners were figuring out how to spend the federal dollars, but the commissioners seemed to favor a $500,000 contribution as projects popped up among the precincts.
After the first year, Story said the incubator program, which will be owned and operated by its own nonprofit organization, is expected to raise enough revenue through memberships and rental spaces to sustain its own operating costs. Revenue for the nonprofit will come from a similar model to those like Office Box, located at the intersection of Esser and Blanco roads, or Rackspace, but Story said the company will have a stringent vetting process as only budding businesses who will bring localized economic growth to the county will be permitted to use the more affordable shared space.
The lease agreement leaves the city of Boerne on the line to pay for Das Greenhaus’ utilities for the first three years, citing exceptions for installing new utility infrastructure, hookups or “unusual or unapproved utility use.” After that period, the nonprofit is expected to take on the cost.
Das Greenhaus will have its own board of directors, as all nonprofits are required to have, and Story said there will be paid employee to be the physical presence at the incubator to run the daily operations. The board of directors will be required under the lease agreement to present to the Boerne City Council every May, presenting on any construction completed in the past year, any improvements planned for the next year, the annual budget and the number of “priority start-up” businesses utilizing the program.
The Boerne Incentives Policy defines “priority” businesses as businesses that add significant ad valorem and sales tax revenues, enhance the city’s tourism draw, generate revenues for the city’s utilities, generate quality employment opportunities and high-paying jobs and many other stipulations.
Anyone interested in learning more about the incubator program is encouraged to reach out to Story or McKenzie. Contact information for Story can be found at https:// bkcedc.com, and contact information for McKenzie can be found at https://www.bkcan.org.
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