The Atlanta Tech Village – A New Hub For Atlanta Startups.

Guest Post By: Kyle Porter – SalesLoft – (Founder & CEO)

In a business city known for it’s fortune 500 giants, the Atlanta startup community took a massive step forward today.

Atlanta Entrepreneur David Cummings has purchased Ivy Place, a 100,000 square foot building in the heart of Atlanta’s Buckhead district for $12.5 Million. He’s changed the name to the “Atlanta Tech Village”, and is designing the building specifically to enhance the Atlanta startup ecosystem.

The village will be a center point for the Atlanta startup community and will provide flexible space for startups to grow from one founder to dozens of employees. It’s expected to house up to 75 companies, and will include a meeting space for up to 150 people.

From the website, the Village’s plan is to “bring the community together, promote serendipitous interactions, and be a powerful tool for recruiting the best talent. ATV is designed as a campus for all types of people doing innovative things.”

“Too much money is wasted by startups on ill-fitting long term leases and heavy customization” Says Cummings. “The Tech Village will alleviate these pains for startups”

David is committed to investing another $5 million in the building for renovations that should be finished by Summer 2013. Think rooftop decks, patio build outs, large sliding glass partitions, open areas, exposed ceilings and more. It’s going to be the only building of it’s kind in Atlanta that caters directly to the startup community, with pricing and terms unique to the needs of startups.

The Cambridge Innovation Center in Boston was an inspiration in the creation of the Village.

Atlanta has always been known for it’s big business. Companies headquartered here are some of the world’s largest and most influential (Coca-Cola, UPS, Home Depot, Delta, etc), but Atlanta has been overlooked a national scale as a startup community. With the building of the Tech Village and other major successes this year (Vitrue, BLiNQ Media, Pardot, Cloud Sherpas), Atlanta is beginning to change that stigma.

Led by a new breed of passionate, “give-first” entrepreneurs, the city of Atlanta is seeing momentum like never before. Entrepreneurs are taking risks, companies are exiting, and investment is happening. The Atlanta technology community is thriving and ATV is a integral part of the momentum.

–Kyle Porter, CEO of SalesLoft