The Howard County Economic Development Authority (HCEDA) has kicked off Phase Two of construction on the Howard County Innovation Center (HCIC), impacting the first and fifth floors of the building. It involves the construction of a new assembly space and lobby on the first floor, as well as the creation of two new classroom spaces, an executive board room and the renovation of the HCEDA’s administrative offices on the fifth floor.
HCEDA is developing a large first-floor event space in partnership with the Howard County Community College’s Charles I. Ecker Business Training Center. The new space will accommodate 150 people and can be used in conjunction with other gathering spaces throughout the building.
The new spaces will vary in size and layout and will include individual commuter stations, conference rooms, classrooms and labs. Collectively, they will accommodate trainings, networking events and conferences and will be a resource for the business community.
Several of the spaces were already completed during Phase One construction, which concluded in June. Phase One most significantly included the newly renovated 16,000-square-foot incubator space on the third floor that now houses the Maryland Center for Entrepreneurship, the Howard Tech Council and other various HCEDA business support services.