9:02 p.m.: Flagship Tech Park to expand

By Jessica Kerman

March 26, 2008 09:03 pm

— ANDERSON — The need for a dynamometer has prompted the Flagship Enterprise Center to request permission to construct a 1,000-square-foot addition to the east side of the building.
Several clients in the Flagship have a need for the device, which measures torque and rotational speed from an engine’s power.
“We have a half a dozen companies that have a strong connection to transportation,” said Chuck Staley, president and CEO of the Flagship.
The request will go in front of the Board of Zoning Appeals on Wednesday, Staley said.
The lab is one of a couple projects being planned for the Flagship Technology Park.
The Anderson Plan Commission on Tuesday approved a change to the city comprehensive plan that would allow for a second accelerator building to be built in the technology park.
The comprehensive plan was approved in 2005, said Tim Stires, assistant director of the Department of Municipal Development.
Jim Habarek, long-range planner for the Department of Economic Development, said the change would give the Flagship leverage for a grant for the building.
“Chuck Staley discovered that, by including it in the master plan, that opens up available funds,” he said. “By simply adding three paragraphs, we can have more money to throw at job creation.”
The first accelerator building, which was 70,000 square feet, has been completely taken over by AltairNano Technologies. The company started its Indiana location in the incubator and was the first and only company to move into the accelerator building before taking it over.
“This is exactly how we want this to roll out,” Staley said. “First they were in the incubator, then they moved and took 30,000 square feet, then 20,000 more, and now the whole building. That is the way we’re wanting the paradigm to work.”
With the accelerator building full and both incubators almost at capacity, the Flagship will be looking for more places for its clients.
“We’re going to be very quickly out of room to grow,” Staley said.
Because the unemployment rate in the area is higher than the state average, the city and county qualify for economic development assistance funds from the federal government.
Changing the plan would allow the Flagship to request that money for another accelerator building.
“We hope to build a larger facility than the Altair building,” Staley said. “Something in the 100,000-square-foot range that can handle multiple companies, companies with a rapid growth rate. We’re almost full now, and that’s a wonderful situation to be in; we just need more space.”