The 700-block of Fort Street in downtown Victoria will get a tinge of orange later this year as the Victoria Advanced Technology Council (VIATeC) moves in.
The organization, which speaks for the region’s $3-billion technology industry and favours orange as its colour scheme, closed a deal to buy 777 Fort St. on March 1 and will take possession of the building March 26.
“We plan to call it Fort Tectoria ... and we think it will be an impressive looking building when we’re done and will represent the tech sector well,” said VIATeC executive director Dan Gunn.
The Fort Tectoria nickname — the building is known as the Deans Block — is a nod to Fort Victoria and the city’s heritage, while Tectoria is the sector’s reminder that it is the top private industry in the region.
VIATeC spent $1.6 million for the building, which had been listed for sale at $1.85 million. It had at one point been listed at $2.995 million.
Gunn said they plan to do about $600,000 of work to the place to update its interior and create a working space to house VIATeC’s startup accelerator centre.
The accelerator program, which gives young companies work space and mentorship as they try to find their feet and prove that their concepts work in the marketplace, has in the last two years worked with more than 50 companies that have raised more than $9 million in investment and seen their revenues increase by $2 million.
“We could see it was working. It has really taken off,” said Gunn, noting that was part of the reason for buying a new space.
Gunn said VIATeC wanted to be closer to downtown, improving the sector’s profile, while continuing to provide room for startups and for the community to use as a meeting and presentation space.
Buying a building, Gunn said, “was as close to a no-brainer as you can get.” The carrying costs, he added, are the same as the lease cost of the current space in the Scott building at the corner of Hillside Avenue and Douglas Street.
Moving to the heart of the city will make a difference, Gunn said.
“Coming back [into the city] after seven years [at the Vancouver Island Tech Park], we could feel the top-of-mind awareness of the tech sector had an exponential increase,” he said. “The only criticism of our [current space] was it was too bad it wasn’t a little closer to the downtown core.”
And, as it turns out, closer to many of the sector’s companies. Preliminary figures from an internal survey showed that, of the 867 tech companies in the region, more than 300 are located downtown.
“Our goal is to build a space that is a manifestation of the fact technology is a strong presence downtown,” said Gunn, noting most firms don’t operate storefronts but toil in relative obscurity on upper floors.
VIATeC’s new digs will undergo renovations through the summer and fall with the organization looking to move in this fall or in December.
Gunn said they will work around existing tenants and he expects some will likely remain in the building.
The building offers more than 15,000 square feet of space on four floors and a basement.
After renovation, Gunn expects to have 120 seats for startups, several board and meeting rooms for the use of all tenants, creative and lounge space and space for a small café.
The group also intends to rebuild the facade of the 1912 building to make it more modern, but maintain the historic look of the building on its upper floors.
