Enhanced Capital is pleased to partner with Staunton Innovation Associates, LLC on the Staunton Innovation Hub project to create a space where small businesses, entrepreneurs, and innovators can combine their varied experiences and talents. Staunton Innovation Hub will rehabilitate buildings in downtown Staunton, VA, into an economic development hub for the community where all the essential elements of a business can be found, from technology and innovation to legal expertise and finance.

The Staunton Innovation Hub project is in a designated rural Enterprise Zone and historic Virginia Main Street District. Enhanced Capital financed $2.4 million in federal and Virginia Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credits, providing capital that will allow the Staunton Innovation Hub to spur the development and success of small businesses within the community.

Enhanced Capital’s investment will help provide flexible, shared, and private working space; affordable membership options; classes for business growth; a community plaza for hosting events; and many other features. Additionally, the project anticipates creating jobs and an ecosystem where entrepreneurs may find like-minded individuals within the community.

The project involves the restoration of the Augusta Street building and Central Avenue building. The Central Avenue building consists of three historic early 20th-century brick buildings that were combined in 1929 and previously used for several commercial operations. The Augusta Street building is operating in the first phase of the project and plans to open this month.

Staunton Innovation Hub has already received recognition for the promising opportunities it will bring to rural Virginia. Governor Ralph Northam visited Staunton Innovation Hub on July 29, 2020, to ceremonially sign legislation establishing the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA). VIPA gives the state an opportunity to invest more into Virginians by overseeing and supporting research, development, commercialization, and related investment and seed-stage funding in the Commonwealth.