Mayor Wamp responds to concerns regarding incubator move

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp is defending the move of the Small Business Incubator Center on the northshore to a new Future Ready Center downtown.

The Business Incubator helps new businesses get off the ground by giving them a space and resources to work.

It is in the old American Lava building on Cherokee Boulevard on the Northshore.

But the County Mayor announced it will move into the new Franklin-Roberts Future Ready Center that will be built in the old Golden Gateway.

Some of the current business leaders feel they could get lost in the shuffle.

But Mayor Wamp Friday tried to reassure them.

The mayor said, “We work as much as we can with these tenants. Some of them did not seem like they want to be collaborative, but we are gonna work with them. Again there are tens of thousands of companies in this community that have not gotten a gift of subsidy through discounted office space from taxpayers. I would hope these companies can meet us in the middle and have a sense of gratitude that the county has the tax base to contribute to their company success.”

The Mayor has not announced when the switch will happen, but said he expects the Franklin-Roberts Future Ready Center to be open no later than the start of the 2028 school year.