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18 <br />Hillsborough The Town of Hillsborough is not positioned well to compete with downtown <br />Durham or with suburban areas nearer to RDU. Although close to I-40 and I-85, Hillsborough is <br />over 30 miles from the airport, about 35-40 minute drive. OCED should reach out to growing <br />spin-off companies that are product oriented and want to hire employees from Orange and <br />Alamance Counties. Available old industrial/warehouse space should be attractive to these <br />companies as long as their need for water was not substantial and rents were reasonable. The <br />county also has buildings for sale in downtown Hillsborough near Churton and King that might <br />be used as expansion space. <br />The Hillsborough Business Center is one asset. Although near capacity, the owner/manager <br />wants to finish additional space in two former mills. The properties have received historic <br />designation which will make redevelopment more feasible. The owner is working with a <br />developer of historic properties to figure out the best way to redevelop the properties and make <br />them more economically viable. With improvements to adjacent streets, the redeveloped <br />buildings could serve call center, light manufacturing, laboratory and office uses as well as back- <br />office support for the new LTNC hospital facility at Waterstone. OCED should learn more about <br />these plans.lg <br />OCED could expand its small business loan program to help stariups and young growing <br />companies serving external markets. For example, companies could receive loans to subsidize <br />rents over some defined time period in return for staying in the county and hiring county <br />residents. Funds from the sales tax approved by voters in November 2011 are an attractive <br />source of new revenue. Still resources are limited. OCED could approach high net-worth <br />individuals, for example retired executives living in or near Chapel Hill (at the Governor's Club). <br />Contributors could be asked to give $50-100,000 with the goal of raising $2-5 million for the <br />loan program. These contributors could help in other ways. They could provide coaching and <br />mentoring to young founders and even become angel investors. They could give seminars to <br />budding entrepreneurs at the 505 incubator. The combination of experienced business persons <br />working with energetic young entrepreneurs could be very powerful. <br />Given the low success rate of stariups whether university based or otherwise, it would be prudent <br />to consider other sectors that appear worthy of consideration. These sectors include green <br />companies associated with the business school's Center for Sustainable Enterprise accelerator, <br />the contract research companies associated with the Schools of Pharmacy and Public Health and <br />defense contractors run by retired military personnel from Fort Bragg currently living in Orange <br />County. OCED could also leverage the growing local food movement in the county to generate <br />18 The Gold Family has owned and operated the Hillsborough Business Center (HBC) for over 20 years <br />which includes over 700,000 SF of historic mill space in the former Eno River Cotton Mill and the <br />Belleview Mill. The properties are in good condition and receive municipal services. Some space in both <br />mills is vacant, and much space is underutilized. <br />15 <br />