Small companies grow on The Vine, Irvine’s tech incubator

Tucked away in a distant corner of an office park on the perimeter of UC Irvine, a small indoor/outdoor garden is nurturing business development in Orange County. The seeds are scores of small technology-related companies germinating throughout the shared office complex at The Vine.

It’s a place where start-ups with a workforce of one can operate alongside others with a handful of employees or more, each growing their vision of the high-tech future in a communal environment.

The effort, an idea from Mayor Steven Choi’s Irvine Tech Valley initiative conceived three years ago, is what he calls an “incubator” for the blossoming tech industry in Orange County.

Last week, Choi facilitated the first meeting of the new Irvine Tech Advisory Council, bringing together business, education and government leaders to foster synergy. Choi is promoting ITAC with the theme “When you thrive, Irvine grows.”

“Eventually, Irvine will become a hub of tech, bioscience and medical companies,” Choi said, “whether mature companies or just starting up.”

The indoor office space at The Vine is an open expanse lined with 73 glass cubicles roughly the size and shape of a small one-car garage. Sliding doors offer enough privacy to talk on the phone, but neighbors always see eye to eye through transparent framework.

There are no shades, shutters or curtains, but some offices are obscured by colored grease-pen markings of erasable business plans and design equations scribbled on the glass walls. It’s not hard to see everyone’s business happening there.

Large tables throughout the common area offer workstations for single users or groups. The same is accessible outside the open front entrance where a large patio the size of a small park allows workers to take advantage of nice weather.

“Almost every company here is a small start-up company,” said Kristen Jackson of Real Office Centers, the management company that operates The Vine at 5151 California Ave., property owned by the Irvine Co. “It’s really interesting to see them come in. They start out co-working, then maybe shift to a small office, and then they’re at a point where they’re working out of two to three offices with us.”

The space opened in March last year, and Jackson said it reached full capacity in December with about 80 small, mostly tech companies. Amenities include Wi-Fi connection, printing and postal services and coffee stations.

A similar, smaller space in the same office park called The Cove is reserved for UCI faculty and students to get a head start in tech business development.

Mark Espinola, a 51-year-old entrepreneur from Coto de Caza, has had his office at The Vine since October and is set to launch his new company, GradeHub, this week. The business is designed to help teachers and college professors streamline grading processes by automating test answer sheets through cloud-based technology.

“I like the vibe. There’s a great energy in the space,” Espinola said of The Vine. “Even though I’m working a lot by myself, I feel like I’m not alone.”

Cheraia Williams, 22, social-media manager for Socialite Agency, an event marketing firm for trade shows and conventions, said: “I really love it because you get the feel and diversity of different companies. You get to talk to different people in different industries, network and make really great connections.”

Though the mayor’s initiative encourages collaboration and support, it doesn’t provide subsidies to seed start-up companies. There’s no cut rate on the rent, which is about $1,000 per month for the one-car-garage-size office, a tenant said.

“I chose this because I wanted to have flexibility,” Espinola said. “I don’t need to be locked into a really long-term lease and get confined by a space that we outgrow quickly.”

Growth is the goal, whether it’s a single start-up or the collective industry that is already branching out far beyond its roots in the famed Silicon Valley.

“I just get the sense it’s right for Irvine and Orange County now,” said Scott Kitcher, an ITAC member and president of CleanTech OC, based in Irvine. “We’re not late to the game, we’re not behind in any sense; it’s just happening now.”