Make It Happen

Innovation Portal provides the space and resources for businesses to grow, evolve and — yes — innovate. 

by Kaija Wilkinson
photography by Stephen Savage

Walking the expansive common area at Innovation Portal in downtown Mobile on a recent weekday afternoon, Executive Director Todd Greer greets members — mostly absorbed in their smartphones and tablets — as they walk past. The 30,000-square-foot space quietly bustles, with people sitting alone or in small groups at various tables under high ceilings with exposed brick walls, pipes and ductwork like in a high-end Manhattan loft. Several large, glassed-in conference rooms around the building’s perimeter sit empty waiting for their next occupants or reveal people brainstorming around large conference tables. A large outdoor courtyard separates the original building from its addition. 

In the common area, a bright pink neon sign on a far wall reads “Make It Happen!” While the Innovation Portal certainly provides a space for budding entrepreneurs and other businesspeople to make things happen, it’s the people, rather than the place, that make the initiative — a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization  — remarkable, says Greer, who comes from a diverse background that includes communications, politics, youth athletics, higher education and Christian ministry. “I call myself a professional mutt,” Greer says, observing that his role leading the Innovation Portal has brought his career (mostly centered around professional development) full circle. In a way, he says, Innovation Portal is like church. Greer observes: 

“It’s fascinating how a community can come together in a single space and use it for their varied purposes but, at the same time, create these unique alliances. This is a place where we might never see each other in any other sphere in life, but, because we all have a need for workspace, we develop a friendship. We can work together and learn about each other, whereas most places in society never give us that opportunity.” 

Funded by public and private grants and membership fees, Innovation Portal is a business incubator, and also a place where individuals can simply go to work. It’s not like a public library, however. It does cost to use the facility. “We’re here to help you make it happen,” states the nonprofit’s website. “We’re a diverse community of entrepreneurs, innovators and go-getters who thrive off of strong coffee, fast Wi-Fi and getting things done.” Those who buy an Innovation Portal “low-risk, month-to-month” membership have access to much more than coffee and Wi-Fi. They are able to access the facility 24/7, which means it doesn’t matter what one’s “regular working hours” are. 

Among members are an employee of a Silicon Valley company who works remotely, a man who runs a construction-management company and a woman launching a healthy snack company. Some tenants have inked long-term agreements and have larger footprints. These include:

• Dropout Bakery & Co., founded by a local couple who met in design school in California but decided to pursue their culinary dreams during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dropout’s signature king cake went viral a few years ago when they were baking out of their downtown Mobile loft. Innovation Portal has since carved out kitchen space and a retail counter for Dropout, which lists among its offerings a gourmet, handmade pop tart!
• The Better Business Bureau (BBB) for central and south Alabama, which relocated from Government Street to the Innovation Portal earlier this year 
• A University of Alabama office
• Mighty ad agency
• 3rd Realm Creations, developer of location-based virtual-reality (VR) experiences that allow users to freely walk around virtual environments without being tethered

If Portal members didn’t want to go home, they probably wouldn’t have to: The facility offers free shower facilities, snacks and office supplies. In addition, it boasts: 

• Furnished conference rooms
• Printers, copiers and scanners
• Consultation sessions
• Fiber internet
• Phone booths
• A kitchenette
• On-site visitor parking

The Mobile Chamber founded the Innovation Portal in 2016. Initially housed within the Chamber, since last year the Portal has operated out of the renovated and expanded building at 358 St. Louis Street in downtown Mobile, which originally was a car dealership and more recently housed Threaded Fasteners.

A “Greer” From Michigan

The Chamber named Greer executive director in 2022. Despite his familiar last name, he’s not related to the Greer grocery store family of Mobile, “although we’re probably distant cousins somewhere down the line,” Greer jokes. A native of southeast Michigan who grew up between Detroit, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio, Greer arrived in Mobile in 2014 as a “trailing spouse”: His wife, Chelsea, had landed a teaching job at Spring Hill College. “When we first came here, I remember seeing a billboard for Greer’s (grocery store), and I thought, ‘That’s cool; that’s our name on a billboard!” Greer says. “Later, I met a couple of the (local) Greers, and one of them actually has another company and was in here earlier today.” 

Looking around the vast Innovation Portal, one wonders where its funding comes from. 

That power bill, one imagines, must be pretty hefty. Greer explains that, as a nonprofit focused on economic development, it receives federal government grants (a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant paid for a significant portion of redeveloping the St. Louis Street location), state grants, private grants and corporate funding. People who work out of the Portal pay membership fees. 

When asked about success stories to illustrate the Portal’s relevance, Greer quips, “Can I show you instead?” as he leads your author to 3rd Realm’s 3,400-square-foot, high-tech VR space. Greer says: 

“3rd Realm was started by a few guys here in Mobile who came out of the film industry. They got involved in doing these first-person simulations. They do R&D here using these VR theaters — a small room where four people can have an experience and a larger room that can accommodate up to six people. 3rd Realm builds experiences using visuals, sound effects and wind. This board right here does haptic feedback — (which uses advanced vibration patterns and waveforms to convey information).^[1] They’re working to provide this as an asset that people purchase and then license those experiences. They have a growing model that’s taken them to Dubai.”

3rd Realm has worked with casinos, universities and real estate agencies, among others. 

These sorts of success stories do not happen overnight, Greer says. He originally worked with 3rd Realm in 2015 when he was running Exchange202, a precursor of sorts to the Innovation Portal. 3rd Realm set up shop at Innovation Portal in 2022, moving into the space they currently occupy in 2023. “These are people we’ve watched grow not from nothing, but from the early stages of an idea to this,” he says. “It’s tremendous.” 

Skateboards for Nintendo, Pokémon and Marvel

Then there is Bear Walker of Baldwin County, with whom the Portal has worked, and his skateboard company. What Walker did was create a longboard that “kind of bucked convention.” Typical skateboards have design work on the bottom, with the top plain and often covered in grip tape. Walker flipped the script, so to speak, by creating designs with a CNC machine where there is artwork on the top that serves the double function of creating friction so the rider stays on the board and looks cool. Greer says: “He got noticed by some people out in Hollywood who said, ‘We’d love you to make a custom board for us.’ Fast forward to today, and he’s had licensing deals with Nintendo, Pokémon and Marvel, with the NBA and the NFL. He’s done so many unique pieces. It’s really incredible.” 

When the BBB announced its move to the Portal, it mentioned the opportunities the new location would bring to its accredited businesses.^[2] Not only that, BBB President Carl Bates said, the bureau is “delighted to be a small part of the resurgence of St. Louis Street” — one of the oldest streets in Mobile and known as Automobile Alley in the 1920s through the 1960s. With its new space in the Portal, the BBB can now host workshops, seminars and other events. 

Greer describes the Portal as a “very intimate marketplace where people connect in ways they typically wouldn’t.” Portal staff members (including Greer, there are four) give people direction and guidance to help them “navigate the opportunities that are right there in front of them.” He hopes the nonprofit’s reach becomes wider, envisioning “at least a second facility,” perhaps elsewhere in the metro area, within 10 years. Innovation Portal aims to foster more development and technological growth in our area, and partner with startups that aim to meet the needs of our growing industrial and manufacturing community. “I think we’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible,” Greer says.  

References

[1] precisionmicrodrives.com/introduction-to-haptic-feedback

[2] wkrg.com/mobile-county/better-business-bureau-mobile-branch-relocating-within-city/