Summary:

An Integrated Urban Incubator is a community where not only businesses and organizations, but people’s lives and ideas can begin. It brings together many worthy ideas, helps them grow, and becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

An Integrated Urban Incubator(IUI)is a starting place for all components of a thriving community: living, working, shopping, gathering, entertaining, educating, worshiping, and recreation. Co-locating these in a distinct, walkable district allows transformative, compounding benefits to occur.

When these aspects of community are co-located, people’s time and lives can be reclaimed. If daily commuting, driving and parking are not needed for those living here, opportunities for serendipitous interaction increase. Living, working, shopping, and socializing can all happen close by. With many daily needs for a car eliminated, parking can be reduced, with co-owned or leased cars feasible.

The IUI’s goal is to incubate not only office space, but retail, restaurant, gallery/studio, education, manufacturing, entertainment and worship spaces – in short, all that a community needs. And though “incubators” often refer to start-up business ventures, the IUI uniquely applies to people – especially those just starting out, or just starting over. These include singles, newly single, new couples, new families with children, newly retired, newly childless. All of these “start-up people” need unique, affordable housing close to work and community opportunities.

There are many correlations between the start-up needs of businesses, organizations and people. All new start-ups need infrastructure and affordable space. They also face relative isolation from other businesses, people and support. By co-locating, and providing opportunities to interact, businesses and people can help each other – and downtown St. Paul - thrive.