FLODESIGN

COMPANY SYNOPSIS

FloDesign Wind Turbine is a cleantech company focused on designing and producing highly efficient wind turbines for commercial use. Winners of the 2008 MIT Ignite Clean Energy Competition, FloDesign quickly gained national attention attracting investments from Kleiner Perkins, Goldman Sachs, Vantage Point, Technology Partners and grants from the Department of Energy through ARPA-E.

BUSINESS QUESTION

FloDesign needed to evaluate options to develop manufacturing of its prototype design and significantly expand its corporate headquarters. The company also needed assistance with a DOE grant submission and assessing numerous state incentives opportunities.

APPLIED BUSINESS APPROACH

FloDesign retained T3 as its real estate advisor recognizing the firm's brokerage and government incentives track record in the Clean Tech sector. 

T3 coordinated the real estate evaluation for a DOE Loan Guarantee submission that created a road map for an Early Commercial Manufacturing Facility. When FloDesign needed to show the DOE details related to the facility, T3 gathered facility data for the DOE submission (market rents, tax and operating expenses and utility costs) based on a utilization analysis developed by the team. 

T3 successfully conducted a multi-state site search and jurisdictional competition for the FloDesign headquarters location. Negotiating incentives packages with each state, T3 was able to help develop a short-list of three states as finalists. Massachusetts was ultimately selected, offering FloDesign over $3MM in grants, subsidies and loans. 

Finally, with the state incentives package in hand, T3 was able to identify and successfully negotiate a lease for FloDesign’s headquarters. 

“T3 is not your traditional real estate firm! T3’s Cleantech Sector Team helped us conduct a multi-state facility search, apply for federal stimulus funding, and win $3 million of incentives from Massachusetts. Most recently, they guided us in locating and securing our new corporate headquarters.
In choosing a corporate headquarters location, we were seeking an exciting space that reflects our company’s character as an innovative renewable energy company. T3's guidance helped us get into space on excellent terms, and I would heartily recommend them to other expanding cleantech firms.”

~Matt Commons, FloDesign