High-tech Biz Incubator Heading to Great Neck Plaza

Photo: LaunchPad/Facebook Page

LaunchPad, a high-tech business incubator in Huntington and MIneola, is opening a third location, this time in Great Neck Plaza.

The incubator offers co-working spaces for small, start-up businesses.

The Grace Avenue location in Great Neck Plaza will accommodate about 20 to 30 startups. LaunchPad tenants don’t sign leases, but lease individual desks or offices on a month-to-month basis. Rents start from $149 per month for a desk, and private offices start at $700 a month.

The Town of North Hempstead’s Business, Tourism & Development Corporation, or BTDC, spent several months working with local leaders to locate a property for the company’s executives.

“We are just thrilled to see LaunchPad open a second site within the Town of North Hempstead,” Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth said, in a statement.

“I am confident that this high-tech company will flourish in the Village of Great Neck Plaza, producing some amazing and innovative ideas, products and businesses,” she added.

As a result of Vision Long Island’s 2013 SmartGrowth Conference, North Hempstead’s BTDC Deputy Director Roy Smitheimer connected with LaunchPad CEO Andrew Hazen, Managing Director Richard Foster and Long Island Software & Technology Network President Peter Goldsmith. After a site visit to the company’s Mineola location to learn more about what LaunchPad offers, BTDC’s Executive Director Kim Kaiman said that the BTDC took an aggressive approach as a “business broker” to locate another property for them within the town.

Hazen seems pleased with the results.

“There’s a nice vibe in Great Neck,” Hazen told Newsday.

“Over the last several months, we arranged meetings with property owners, including developers, Class A office building managers, and leasing agents with LaunchPad executives to find the right fit for their next business model here within North Hempstead,” Kaiman said. “When I reached out to Great Neck Plaza Mayor Jean Celendar, she activated her village team to help identify potential property owners who might be interested in this unique opportunity.”

Mayor Celender credited the village’s walkability and location a block from the LIRR Great Neck train station appeals to Long Island entrepreneurs.