Algood Negotiating Terms For Business Incubator

The City of Algood hopes its new business incubator will bring lasting businesses to the downtown area.

City officials have begun negotiating lease terms for spaces at the old city hall building.

City Administrator Keith Morrison said he plans to keep numbers low when talking with potential businesses owners.

“And I think that’s the idea….is to set the rent reasonable where we get a little bit of money, but they also have a chance to build a business affordably and create something that’s gonna stay there,” Morrison said. “I don’t wanna force them out of business eight months after they open. I want something that’s gonna be sustainable and stay downtown and draw people downtown.”

Morrison has proposed a rent-free model for the first two months and increasing that amount to at least $200 for the rest of the year. He said rent would gradually increase after that.

“So what we’ll do is renegotiate the price after the second year and the third year and the fourth year,” Morrison said. “After that, it should be full commercial rate if they’ve established a good enough business by that time.”

Tenants will be responsible for the upkeep of the building, while the city keeps up with roof and structural work.

Morrison said he’s already been approached about a possible music store and coffee shop.

“It will be a good draw, I think, for people to be downtown,” Morrison said. “I think if you could have all of that down there, it would be a pretty neat thing to just park and kind of walk through every now and then.”

Morrison said the city plans to have at least two of the three units rented out.