In the past three years, about 35,000 people have visited the Museum of Entrepreneurship at the Emory Group Company offices in San Felasco Tech City to learn about the difference between an inventor and an entrepreneur.
Mitch Glaser, CEO of Emory Group and co-developer of Tech City, believes entrepreneurs and inventors need each other to succeed. Glaser has started 12 businesses himself, and says his skills have really helped others succeed.
Six years after Glaser sketched out his color-coded idea for Tech City’s layout, the development is in its third phase, with 62 businesses of all kinds thriving under Glaser’s vision of “ribbonization,” layering different parts of life and business together.
Tech City is zoned Commercial Park (CP), which allows for the construction of residential and commercial buildings throughout the site.
Glaser said many mixed-use developments have separate segments for office, residential, retail and restaurants. What Glaser calls “ribbonization” blends all those parts together, intertwining the residential and commercial elements across Tech City’s 270,000 square feet.
The way Tech City is structured stems in part from an early listening tour that Greiser and co-developer Rich Blazer, CEO of Infinite Energy, conducted with University of Florida students. Greiser said what they learned from the students is that they’re interested in experiencing the world for themselves.
The idea of an experiential world has resulted in a low-density facility with hiking trails and nature areas, and a jogging path with workout stations along the way will soon be added.
“Companies totally get it,” Glaser said in an interview. “They’re not designing companies for their owners, they’re designing companies for their employees, and those employees are Gen X, Gen Z and millennials.”
While Tech City is designed entirely for workers, Glaser said the idea came from watching his older brother graduate from the University of Florida with a computer science degree and then leave home for Silicon Valley because there wasn’t anywhere good for starting a business locally.
“Instead of bringing families together, we’ve torn them apart,” Glaser said. “And [Blaser and I] “We just decided we had to create an environment that was warm, friendly, affordable and flexible, where businesses chose to stay and could thrive.”
Another defining feature of Tech City is its commitment to sustainability, best exemplified by the red and yellow solar trees dotted around the site. Strung on the walkways between the buildings, the trees and their solar panels are bifacial, picking up solar energy directly from the sun and reflecting it back onto the walkway.
Glaser, whose office faces the entrance to the site, said that on average, two people a day stop to take a selfie with the tall red solar tree at the front of the site.
Greiser said the energy produced by the 82-acre site exceeds the energy used by all businesses and newly built homes, and that the project receives no government support beyond the usual tax credits for solar power.
“It’s incredible. This is a proof of concept,” Glaser said.
Glaser believes there are two main reasons for the project’s success: its commitment to sustainability and its never-singling out of touch with different kinds of technology. From coffee and wine to dancing, data protection, glass printing, and biomedical technology, Tech City is a vibrant mix of technological possibilities.
Glaser said the development has never specifically valued one company over another because of its size or product.
“I didn’t want to be limited to one type of technology,” Glaser said. “Everyone is welcome.”
Executives from recent tenant Vobile, a digital content protection company, told Glaeser exactly what space they needed: directly across from Daft Cow Brewery. Glaeser says that while not all employees take advantage of the proximity all the time, the brewery vibe carries over and helps foster a positive work environment for engineers.
As construction work continues, the overall vibe at Tech City is one of growth: Four large buildings with office and production space are completed and open, while five more are under construction or in the planning stages.
The completed development will have 252 homes, 26 of which are expected to be available for rent by the end of this year. The master plan also includes a community center with a glass wall facing the forest, as well as a fire station, playground, swimming pool, basketball court and tennis court.
Tech City will be a mix of work, housing and play areas located side-by-side and designed to be accessible by foot, bike, golf cart and car.
“Having options is what makes a community successful,” Glaser said.
