There has been some activity happening along south Highway 30 in Jefferson near the Fairview Veterinary Clinic area.

Greene County Development Corporation President Scott Weber says Matt Wendl from Carroll purchased three lots in their East Business Park to begin building a “business incubator.” He tells Raccoon Valley Radio the incubator will have several bays within one large structure that will include office space and a restroom area for other potential business owners to start their ventures by renting them out. 

Weber points out the idea is for those initial owners to grow into buying their own facility or building a new location for their companies. He explains that in his career in the banking industry, he has seen individuals struggle just starting out and that this incubator is a good stop gap solution.

“We get a lot of folks that they want to look at buying a building, or they want to look at building a building, and at their early infancy stages it’s very hard for them to do, you have to have a lot of capital. I’d say from a storage type of a deal or a business incubator type of a deal, we just don’t really have those here. So over the years, I’ve heard folks bring it up and talk about it. We’ve had a few folks that have actually kind of come to the table a few times and had the idea, but then never pulled the trigger. So, I think it’ll be well received.” 

Weber states that Wendl has had proven success with this same concept in Carroll and that GCDC had hired a contractor to extend water and sewer to the lots. 

As for the West Business Park, Weber says there is another business that purchased a lot and will start to move dirt soon, near the Jefferson Family Dentistry facility. He adds that the anticipated timeline for the incubator business to be operational is by this winter.