Atlanta has an amazing resource in Tech Square, on the outer edge of Georgia Tech’s campus in Midtown. Tech Square has all the amenities wanted in a startup hub: highly ranked engineering school, great walkability for serendipitous interactions, easy proximity to public transportation including a subway station, many restaurants, tons of creative-class jobs, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, the ATDC incubator, and the co-working space Hypepotamus (more Midtown benefits from @rkischuk).
ATDC, the Advanced Technology Development Center (not the Atlanta Technology Development Center as many people think), has great office space that’s subsidized by the university and month-to-month leases — perfect for startups. In addition, the Tech Square area is an empowerment zone meaning it qualifies for a $2,500 tax credit for each new employee hired with a salary ~30% higher than the county average (a salary of approximately $65,000 or higher qualifies). With all this said, there’s a high quality problem in that there’s no office space left, a waiting list for future space, and you can’t get on the waiting list unless you’re an ATDC Select company (based on company progress and likelihood of building a sustainable business). Also, the space isn’t designed for startups that have broken through and are starting to scale (e.g. once you hit reached a certain employee size or have been there three years, whichever comes first, you usually have to leave).
The solution is to buy the large, empty lot next to the parking deck that serves Tech Square and turn it into a physical Atlanta Startup Village. Much like an Olympic Village, this would be custom designed to help foster the goal of building a larger, more vibrant startup community.
Here are some ideas for the physical Atlanta Startup Village:
- Large multi-story complex like the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, NC
- Loft-style space with tall ceilings and exposed bricks and beams
- Communal outdoor space with a park-like setting
- Several multi-purpose event facilities
- Roof top balcony for tenants and events
- Octane coffee shop
- Mellow Mushroom restaurant
- General Assembly-like education and co-working space
- A mix of seed stage, early stage, and growth stage companies
- Affordable gigabit fiber internet access and WiFi
The physical Atlanta Startup Village is a complement to Tech Square and sets the stage for an even stronger and more vibrant tech startup community.
What else? What would you add or change about the physical Atlanta Startup Village idea?
David Cummings on Startups 
This is a fantastic idea! Is it something that is actually being considered or is it simply a pipe dream?
love this idea!! @LegacyMovement1 would love to be involved..
Love it, and I’d add, some kind of intentional connection to the arts community—I think entrepreneurs and developers are creative class for sure, but even an art institute campus outpost or studio, communal art space–something to draw even more creative energy. GREAT idea. Then keeping the ideas going, luring sponsor companies in residence…so there’s a bit of corporate coaching to balance….a few highly invested anchor companies that get favorable long term leases in return for being part of the community and perhaps even locating their innovation labs there…
Atlanta should actively recruit and offer significant tax incentives for high potential start ups and entrepreneurs. If we want to build a thriving community we need big time entrepreneurs. And, we should recruit outside big time investors to give them advantages to invest in ATL companies – VCs and Angels. By having top notch entrepreneurs, VCs and angels focused on Atlanta the opportunities for huge exits increases. And, success breeds success as we have seen in the security category all starting with Chris Klaus and in the open source space from Mark Fleury. We need more wins like this and even WebMD.
We need more young talent that has tasted a successful exit and can afford to take risks to do it on their own. And, to attract talent that thinks there is a likelihood of this happening. To look the successful companies that have emerged from Google, Yahoo, etc. in Atlanta this sort of entrepreneurial outcomes for non-founders is just not where it needs to be and this in my mind is critical. Most successful entrepreneurs don’t want to waste time working in an atmosphere that has hopeful entrepreneurs. In my mind, you are either an entrepeneur from birth and this is your life calling or not as success comes at a major cost and risk!