2nd look inside the new technology center

Well, the construction trailers have gone away and Shout Youngstown is bringing you the first pictures of inside the Technology Center, built immediately adjacent to the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Connected by interior hallways and miles and miles of cable, the emerging cluster of YBI buildings is rapidly taking shape. With renovation of the Semple Building currently underway, this three-structure complex will now assume an even larger role in the evolving economy of Youngstown and the redevelopment of our historic downtown.


Peering down the street, the facade of the new building is a departure from many of the brick and terra cotta buildings that line Federal Street.

Here is the main entrance of the building, which is a bit recessed from the natural plane of the sidewalk.


The structure is one of the most heavily-wired buildings in Ohio's Western Reserve, maybe the most wired building in the Mahoning Valley. Here is the nerve center of the building.

I'd put my server there.


Electric and data connections are abundantly visible throughout the structure.


This series of four tubes now run throughout the entire YBI complex, from the Reichart building through the Technology Center, and over to the Semple Building. It was be considered the "spine" of the complex, running data, voice, electrical and video stream throughout.


Initially much of the space will be the new home of Turning Technologies, as that company graduates from the incubation stage of the YBI. The managed cluster will be not only an adjacency of buildings, but an adjacency of technology companies learning from each other to become more competitive in the global economy.

The yellow on the walls is indicative of Turning's colors. The skylight to the left is bringing natural light down from the roof through the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor.


Peering up into the skylight . . .


and over to the glass-enclosured conference room.


The internal staircase is surrounded by glass, providing a glimpse of the kinetic activity within the building to the street level.


And looking out from the ground floor, to the home of the Youngstown Symphony, among other art organizations downtown in the DeYor Center.


Most people don't know this, but underneath the building is a parking structure.


The materials of the two buildings blend the new and the old, as this is the interface between the original structure and the new addition . . .


. . . which on the other side of the structure connects to the Semple Building.


And at night, the building displays its interior to the world.

Time to get the furniture in there, then all the people!


The new building is set to be immediatley filled - most of the space is now allocated.

With the departure of some of the "graduating" companies from the original "incubating" building, this frees up more space for new companies to enter the mix in the downtown.

- Affordable office space rates
- Two blocks away from a university of 13,000+ students and their research faculty
- A cultural hotspot in the Great Lakes region
- Historical and affordable housing in walking/biking distance

the pieces, one by one, are coming together.