Colfax incubator makes headway

COLFAX — The Downtown Association is progessing with their small business incubators that received funding in November 2022.

“It’s going well,” Downtown Association Director Whitney Bond said to the Gazette, Tuesday, Nov. 21 noting they’ve filled their downstairs of the first properties they purchased.

Bond said they are almost done with the design and prospects for the second property purchased for an incubator, the former Washington Federal Bank (WaFd) building located at 102 North Main Street. “The Cocoa Bee is in the first property,” Bond said.

“We are waiting for MEP (Mechanical Engineering), and then we will be soliciting bids for construction really soon,” Bond said.

Bond said the restaurant will have indoor and outdoor seating, adding some vibrancy to downtown. “We’re just in the tail end, another week or two, and that will be finalized, and that bid will go out,” she said.

Bond said that once the design is finalized, they will share it with the public so that everyone can see what the new restaurant will look like. She added that they hope everyone will be excited and ready to check it out once it’s complete next year.

The Colfax Downtown Association received $2,259,820 from the Washington State Department of Commerce Small Business Innovation Fund (SBIF) grants, ranging from $500,000 to $5 million, coming out to a total of $32.5 million grants awarded to 22 different projects out of over 120 proposals in November 2022.

The SBIF funds awarded funded a variety of activities, including small business incubators and accelerators, support for local procurement initiatives, improvements to physical workspaces in response to public health requirements or acts of vandalism, support for small business competitiveness programs focusing on hiring and retention, as well as projects increasing small business’s ability to succeed and thrive.

An incubator is a workspace that offers business startups and new ventures access to needed resources. It also provides resident companies with access to advisors, mentors, administrative support, office equipment, training, and potential investors.