For years, Angelo Bianco, a Florida developer, drove past the enormous, wooded IBM corporate campus off Interstate 95 in Boca Raton, Fla., without paying it much heed.
But his interest was piqued when a broker informed him that the property was for sale.
IBM designed the secluded 550-acre site in the 1960s because it “didn’t want people in their secret development lab space,” Mr. Bianco said.
It was there that its engineers produced the first personal computer, as well as the prototype for the first smartphone.
A series of owners struggled to successfully recast it, selling off tracts and ultimately renaming it the Boca Raton Innovation Campus.
Persons:
Angelo Bianco, Mr, Bianco
Organizations:
IBM, Boca Raton Innovation
Locations:
Florida, Boca Raton, Fla, Raleigh, N.C