Carson City may take over Adams Hub operations

Carson City may be taking over operations of the Adams Hub.

The Hop & Mae Adams Foundation, which launched the downtown business incubator in 2014, has offered to turn the facility over to the city to become Carson City’s economic development office.

Over the next three years, the foundation would donate the building's lease, valued at $420,000, and an annual cash grant of $200,000 to cover the cost of operations, for a grant of just over $1 million.

The city, if the Board of the Supervisors accepts, will take over the 8,000 square foot building, which is nearly at capacity and houses offices for startups such as Lu Dela, Cycladex, and FlashVote, as well as co-working space for two other levels of membership.

That space includes The Studio, refurbished and added in 2016, which will likely be turned into more office space for entrepreneurs as well as the office for the city’s new arts and culture coordinator, Mark Salinas, and exhibition space for some of the city’s public art collection.

The city will also continue Adams Hub’s myriad programs, which include Entrepreneurs Assembly, Lunchbox Learning, and New Entrepreneur Network, an entrepreneurial program for high school and middle school students, a partnership between the incubator and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Nevada.

Adams Hub also offers a roster of nearly three dozen local mentors who counsel members on marketing, finance, legal, and other issues involved in starting up a new business.

The change in responsibility for the Adams Hub coincides with the expiration of contracts the foundation had with the professionals who launched the incubator, including Miya MacKenzie, its chief professional officer.

“Special thanks are extended to Miya MacKenzie, the director of Adams Hub for its four start-up years,” the foundation said in a press release.