Bob Young, who helped start software company Red Hat in 1993 and was its chief executive through its formative years, paid $3.5 million for the former N.C. Equipment Co. building on Hillsborough Street, known for its big, yellow bulldozer sign.

"I'm a big fan -- a consumer -- of light, industrial space," Young said Wednesday. "They have more character; they're more fun. They're more interesting places to go to work in the morning."

There's no guarantee that he will keep the abandoned building. Young is weighing whether to renovate it for "white-collar, software engineering kind of space" or to find a partner to redevelop the 2.2-acre site.

The latter would be more likely. The property, which is just inside the Beltline, has long been sought by developers.

Five years ago, Raleigh developer Val Valentine said he wanted to use it as part of a seven-acre plan that included a grocery, offices, condos and apartments for students at nearby N.C. State University. The project never materialized.

Young, who bought the property as Rose Mary Developments LLC, declined to say whether the Valentine plan would be revived.

Documents filed with the state say: "Rose Mary ... committed itself to redevelopment of the property for office and commercial, including retail, use."

Young started looking at the property a year ago, when his wife's company, Needlepoint.com, needed space. The sale was slowed because the property is on contaminated land and required more liability-protection paperwork -- and time -- than expected.

Needlepoint found a home near Cameron Village, so Young is thinking about using the property for a business incubator, offering space that would attract startup tech companies. He wouldn't have to look far for tenants.

"Being just down the road from N.C. State gives us access to engineering talent that is increasingly in scarce supply," said Young, who left Red Hat's board in 2005.

There's a chance some of the space could be filled by Lulu.com, a fast-growing venture he started in 2002 that helps people publish their own books. It's unlikely that Lulu will move its headquarters from Morrisville, he said. But the space might work for a spinoff. "Lulu continues to come across new and interesting opportunities, some of which we will do as part of our core organization and some of which we will spin out," he said.