We’re finally out of the business incubator — or the Business Expansion Center building on East Seneca Street in Oswego.
We were supposed to be there for three years; we spent more than 30 years.
The reason we moved out was that the owner of the building, Operation Oswego County, Oswego County’s designated economic development agency, sold the property to the county government.
We have the distinction of being the longest tenant in the BEC history.
I started Oswego County Business Magazine in June 1992 out of my home on East Second Street in Oswego. A few months later I was approached by Web Reid, then the deputy director at Operation Oswego County, who invited me to apply for office space. At the time, I didn’t know such an incubator existed. I signed the lease sometime in the fall of 1992. The condition was I could be there for three years, grow the business and get out.
When you fund your startup with credit card money as I did, you look everywhere you can to save money. The incubator was the perfect place. The rent was low, the facility had plenty of space for growth and provided a professional space to conduct business, which replaced my living room.
As far as I can remember, I was the only tenant when I moved in. Over the following three decades I was either the only business there or one of a few. That was one of the reasons the landlord decided to overlook the three-year stay rule.
We had a tiny office to start and gradually added more space. We added a second office space within a year, then a third, a fourth, then a fifth room. Even though the rent went up almost every year, the place was still affordable. We got used to being in the building.
Hard to say it but we probably wouldn’t have been able to grow the way we did if we were in a different building. For that matter, being in the incubator was crucial to our survival, then to our growth.
Operation Oswego County Executive Director Austin Wheelock said in an interview with this publication that OOC is looking to create a new incubator. “We are going to be redeploying that capital [from the BEC sale] to develop a new modern incubation facility,” he said.
Indeed we encourage OOC to create a new business incubator, preferably in Oswego, as soon as possible. Incubators play a crucial role in the development of new businesses.
Our new home now is at 320 Thompson Road, less than a mile from SUNY Oswego.
We were lucky to find something that’s suitable to our needs. The 3,600 sq.-ft. facility has ample parking, a huge storage area and comfortable, newly renovated office space. It comes with a beautiful, inviting fireplace — it gives the space a homey feel. It’s owned by Teton Management Corporation, a Pittsfield, Massachusetts, company that owns various properties in New York and other states. So far, we’ve had a very positive experience with them.
Who knows, we may be here for another 30 years!
Wagner Dotto is the editor and publisher of Oswego County Business Magazine.
