Incubators and hatcheries, oh my

You can almost set your watch by these articles in the business section of the Athens paper that discuss the New Media Institute/Synergy Center and the businesses that operate there. Nearly all of them feature EO Studios and talk about the difficulties they're having in moving beyond the incubator, while at the same time indicating that the business(es) want to stay in the downtown area, but that rents are too high and they can't find a suitable space. This is where they lose me. Granted, downtown is close to UGA and there's a cool vibe there, but Athens isn't that big and if they really wanted to move out I can't believe that there's not suitable space somewhere in town. None of these articles ever come out and say what's so magical about downtown that EO (and others, I assume) just can't bear to leave. I tend to think that this is an excuse they're using to stay in the incubator where it's nice and cozy. At some point (EO has been in the incubator now for something like 5-6 years) they need to just cut the cord and set out on their own like a real business.