Located adjacent to the beautiful Portage Canal and the world’s heaviest lift bridge, the Powerhouse was the SmartZone’s first incubator that came on line after an $800K renovation in June 2003. The completion of the second expansion/renovation project in January 2008 totaling $1.0 million increased the available office space to approximately 15,000 sq feet. This is an excellent example of a historic building that was abandoned and was restored for reuse. It has significant history being the first power station in the Upper Peninsula, providing electric power for the cities of Houghton and Hancock. In 1890 this power station started generating 5.4 megawatts into the community and continued creating electricity for 69 years.

The building layout is designed for either multi-tenant or single tenant occupancy. It supports three floors of office space with a fourth floor dedicated as a high tech lab with high-current four-phase power. The entire building is wired with CAT6 wiring which is supported by fiber optic hubs, one on each of the four floors, leading to the main building servers in its separately monitored and controlled climate controlled server room. It has complete IT infrastructure with multiple choices for services: fax, copy center, central mail room, VoIP phone system, traditional phone system, cable, T-1, DSL, and a 50Mbps microwave link to the Gigabit Internet access. This facility also has a dedicated 180kW backup generator providing 24x7 power.

Located on a hill off the Portage Canal with fantastic views of the canal and city of Houghton. The Portage Facility was the SmartZone’s second facility coming on line in July 2005. It owns and operates the fourth floor of this building as an incubator. This building is another reuse of an abandoned building in the community. It was commissioned in 1959 as the community’s hospital and continued its service until the hospital moved to their new facility in 2003.

The layout of this facility supports 14,000 square feet of multi-tenant occupancy with a three-wing configuration layout. This facility supports traditional office and light lab space to support small start-ups with room to grow. Two of the three wings can support single occupant configuration with its own secured entrance adjacent to the elevator.

The entire building is wired with CAT5e & CAT6 wiring which is routed to the server room. It has complete IT infrastructure with multiple choices for services: fax, copy center, central mail room, VoIP phone system, traditional phone system, cable, T-1, DSL, and a 100Mbps microwave link to the Gigabit Internet access. This facility also has a dedicated 80kW backup generator providing 24x7 power.

Located in the hardwoods next to Michigan Tech’s football stadium, the Advanced Technology Development Complex (ATDC) is another incubator. This new facility came on line on August 2008. It supports 27,000 square feet of high-bay space and traditional office space layouts for innovation, as well as support services, high-tech business starts-ups, prototyping, research, testing laboratories for the Keweenaw Research Center and the Michigan Department of Community Health, conference space, and business support services offered through MTU’s Corporate Services and the Michigan Tech Enterprise SmartZone. It also houses the Ford Student Design Center.

A major part of the ATDC is the Ford Student Design Center, named to recognize the building’s lead donor: the Ford Motor Company Fund. The center aligns the interests of Ford—and its future engineering workforce—with students at Michigan Tech. The Ford Student Design Center will provide space for both Senior design and Enterprise. These two programs give Michigan Tech students the opportunity for undergraduate research that is relevant to industry. Senior design and Enterprise are run as companies, and participating students partner with business or industry to tackle engineering and business challenges.

There is a full chassis dynamometer laboratory here, as well as small engine and large engine dynamometers. Unique among universities, the ATDC will have both a chassis dynamometer and an acoustic chamber. In addition, a high-ventilation room accommodates safe testing of running engines and chemical experiments. ATDC business incubator space is owned and operated by Michigan Tech and is affiliated with, and complements, the other incubators of the SmartZone.

The entire building is wired with CAT5e & CAT6 wiring which is routed to the server room. It has complete IT infrastructure with multiple choices for services: fax, copy center, central mail room, four-phase power, VoIP phone system, traditional phone system, cable, T-1, DSL, and a fiber-optic link to Michigan Tech’s Gigabit Internet access.

Located right on the waterfront of the Portage Canal with a full service boat dock adjacent to the building. This is now the SmartZone’s flagship facility. They hold the entire first floor of this 60,000 square feet building of office and laboratory space. This is another excellent example of the community’s reuse of an abandoned building. This building was originally a fruit, produce, and groceries warehouse building. In the early 80’s UPPCO spent over $9.0 million in renovations with an additional $3.02 million in new renovations scheduled to be completed in last quarter of 2009.

The building layout is designed for multi-tenant occupancy with specially designed removable walls for easy expansion of office spaces. It supports 17,000 sq.ft. of office space with separated high tech laboratory spaces and access to high current four-phase power. The entire building is wired with CAT6 wiring which is supported by fiber optic hubs, one on each of the three floors, leading to the main building servers in its separately monitored and controlled climate controlled server room. It has complete IT

infrastructure with multiple choices for services: fax, copy center, central mail room, VoIP phone system, traditional phone system, cable, T-1, DSL, and 24-pairs of fiber-optic cable connection to Michigan Tech’s Gigabit Internet access. This facility also has a dedicated 250kW backup generator providing 24x7 power.