CRA/LA Launches Clean Tech Business Incubator

The CRA/LA's board of commissioners has approved hiring a Silicon Valley-based consulting firm, Business Cluster Development (BCD), and has agreed to work with the city's Department of Water and Power to establish the incubator as part of the La Kretz CleanTechnology Innovation Campus. Located within the CRA/LA's 738-acre central industrial redevelopment project area, the La Kretz campus would also include the DWP's proposed Clean Technology Development Center.

Calvin Hollis, the CRA/LA's interim chief executive officer, said the incubator will help the agency fulfill its role of economic development and job creation by fostering research and development in renewable energy, recycling, next-generation transportation and other breakthrough technologies.

"These clean tech industries are high-growth and high-value and can attract private investment, generate well-paying green collar jobs and be responsive to future environmental regulations," Hollis said in a statement.

The CRA/LA board's actions, which are pending City Council approval, call for the DWP to lease 25,000 square feet to CRA/LA for the incubator while CRA/LA would spend $3 million on tenant improvements, capital equipment and related public improvements. The incubator's net rental income would be shared between the two entities or future incubator management. CRA/LA will seek a grant from the US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, to fund the improvements.

BCD, which was selected for a $100,000 planning contract from among seven competing firms, will develop a business incubator strategy and business plan and negotiate with the DWP. The firm's incubators and technology commercialization programs have received recognition from the National Business Incubation Association. BCD will work with a subcontractor, Claggett Wolfe Associates.

The CRA last year struck a deal with rail car maker AnsaldoBreda to set up operations in Los Angeles at the CRA/LA's CleanTech Manufacturing Center in the Downtown industrial core. Plans call for a 240,000 square-foot light rail car manufacturing facility on 14 acres of the CRA/LA-owned, 20-acre CleanTech Manufacturing Center (CTMC) site at the intersection of 15th Street and Santa Fe Avenue.