The area of the New Center known as the New Amsterdam historic district was once the heart of innovation in Detroit. The neighborhood teemed with industry and invention.

The Burroughs Adding Machine Company (pictured below) moved to the area from St. Louis in 1904, making it one of the first companies in the New Center. The company began by designing and manufacturing adding machines, which won them a gold medal at the 1900 Paris Exposition. Later, Burroughs moved on to computers, and in 1986 it merged with Sperry Co. to form the worldwide information technology consulting service Unisys.

Also in the area was the American Electrical Heater Company at 6110 Cass Avenue, near Burroughs, in a building designed by Albert Kahn. Founded in 1894, the firm was a pioneer in electric irons and toasters. At one point, more than 220 workers produced electrical apparatuses in the building. The Company was the world’s largest manufacturer of small electrical appliances and had offices in Detroit, New York and Berlin.

The building

The TechOne business accelerator facility began as a service department for Pontiac when it was built in 1927, then later became the Chevy Creative Services building. The Corvette was designed on the building’s third floor, and auto show displays were built here as well.

Designed by renowned industrial architect Albert Kahn, the five-story building features Kahn’s signature skylights—an innovation at the time that introduced ample natural light to industrial workplaces, providing a working environment that was safer and more enjoyable to employees.

Decay

Starting in the 1950s, the New Amsterdam area began a long and steady economic slide, mirroring the downward movement of the entire city of Detroit.

The plan

Talk of reconstructing this once-vital neighborhood of Detroit began in the 1990s when Irvin D. Reid, then-president of Wayne State University, conceived the idea for an economic catalyst that would galvanize local business while also turning around the state’s flagging economy.

TechTown was designed as a research and technology park to stimulate job growth and small business creation by supporting entrepreneurs and developing companies in emerging industries including advanced engineering, life sciences and alternative energy. An overall plan for the 12-block area was produced that envisioned a mixed-use community including schools, renovated and new housing, shops, lofts, an entertainment complex and dozens of small technology-based startup and early-stage enterprises.

Minds and means connect

General Motors donated the Chevy Creative Services building to the TechTown project, and it was designated as TechOne, the first business incubator facility. GM also provided TechTown with parking spaces and maintains its involvement through participation in TechTown’s board of directors.

The Henry Ford Health System donated office space, services and supplies to TechTown staff for a full year prior to occupancy of TechOne. Jim Connelly, CFO of the Henry Ford Health System, has been a board member and treasurer of TechTown since its inception.

TechTown has continued to receive generous donations since its opening in 2004. In December 2007, the Kresge Foundation made a generous contribution of $1.5 million for buildout of the TechOne facility.  TechTown also received grants from the New Economy Initiative, the Herbert and Grace A. Dow Foundation, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., the City of Detroit, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Wayne County Land Bank.

TechTown announced in December 2009 that the former Dalgleish Cadillac building at 6160 Cass Avenue would become TechTwo, its next business incubator facility.

Wayne State University has also designated two other buildings as future business incubator facilities: the former Criminal Justice building and the American Beauty Electric Iron building, both on Cass.

TechTown today

TechTown was incorporated in 2000, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Wayne State University President Irvin D. Reid opened the partially-renovated TechOne business incubator facility on April 20, 2004.

In the years since the opening of TechOne, there have been a number of critical and substantial accomplishments achieved by TechTown:

• The TechOne building is almost completely renovated and hosts more than 160 companies. All available space is fully occupied and there is a waiting list of tenants.
• TechTown’s first tenant, Asterand, was no more than an idea in 2000 when it was launched at Wayne State University; today, it is an international public company traded on the London Stock Exchange and was voted the best performing share in 2008 by the Financial Times.
• TechTown has developed a series of support services to help new companies grow and prosper. SmartStart is TechTown’s business accelerator program, designed to inject essential resources into emerging companies at critical stages in their development. The program has enrolled approximately 85 innovative startup companies.
• TechTown is a key partner in FastTrac to the Future, a $9.25 million, three-year initiative to reshape Southeast Michigan’s economy by encouraging entrepreneurship and small businesses. Funded by the New Economy Initiative and created in partnership with the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, FastTrac to the Future aims to create 1,200 startup companies in the next three years. As a part of the initiative, TechTown provides services and resources to empower and encourage entrepreneurs in Detroit.
• Every month TechTown hosts business seminars, workshops and networking events that attract hundreds of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors from around Southeast Michigan.
• The Henry Ford Health System relocated its genetics labs to approximately 13,600 square feet of high-quality research space in TechOne in 2008.
• TechTown has been named as the home for a stem cell commercialization center, the first of its kind in the U.S.A. The center is expected to open in 2010.

A Town in transition

The 43-acre tech park has changed drastically in recent years. Here are some of the businesses and organizations that have joined the TechTown neighborhood:

• NextEnergy, a $12 million alternative energy research facility driving the development of all forms of alternatives to fossil fuels
• New Amsterdam Lofts I and II
• Wayne State University Police Department
• University Preparatory Academy