Centergy Advanced Technology and Development Center

Georgia Tech needed a new incubator to house technology-based start-up companies under one roof. With its own campus expansion plans underway, Georgia Tech had a site in mind for an office and research facility – Technology Square. The vision was to create a place that facilitated innovative research, entrepreneurship, and collaboration between the University's faculty and private sector entrepreneurs.  Additionally, this complex would serve auxiliary service providers such as accountants, lawyers, and venture capitalists.

Marshaling the resources of two private development companies, TUFF invested in a technology research facility at Technology Square. TUFF and the Woodruff Foundation together supplied initial capital to kick off the effort and then financed the project with $52 million of taxable and tax-exempt bonds.  TUFF was highly instrumental in creating a financing structure that combined several sources of funds and the ultimate condominiumization of ownership at the Centergy tower.  At the end of the lease term, TUFF will convey the floors it owns to Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures (GATV), a subsidiary of Georgia Tech created to foster research and economic development.

Through a condominium ownership structure, TUFF currently owns five floors of the facility and leases the space to GATV.  The balance of the 500,000 square foot tower is leased to private commercial entities. On the street level, this mixed-use project also includes 48,000 square feet of retail.