In the Dogpatch neighborhood, along a once-desolate stretch of San Francisco’s Third Street, lies what some call a skyscraper on its side. It is the former home of the American Can Company, a manufacturer that once employed thousands in its four-block-long plant overlooking the bay.

Today, rechristened the American Industrial Center, or AIC, the complex is home to 275 small- and medium-sized businesses including industrial designers, video production firms and chocolatiers. Though not a business incubator in the traditional sense, the complex has emerged as a hub of collaborative entrepreneurship and a breeding ground for new companies, notably ones in food and technology.

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The AIC has also helped put the Dogpatch neighborhood, long an industrial desert in a post-industrial world, on the city’s cultural and economic map. With the opening of the Muni T-line in 2007 and the development of nearby Mission Bay, people have long predicted the Dogpatch would be the next destination neighborhood.

The recession has slowed development and helped preserve the area’s wide-open, rough-and-tumble feel. But judging by the AIC’s 4 percent vacancy rate, which is well below industry average, that is just fine with many of the businesses there.

Michael Recchiuti, one of the city’s most celebrated chocolate makers, opened a tiny kitchen and production facility in the AIC’s south building with his wife, Jacky, in 1997. Back then, Recchiuti recalls, sewing shops dominated the complex, and it was common to see chickens for sale in wooden crates along Third Street.

The couple has since expanded to four bays in the south building, and with expansion has come collaboration. A photographer upstairs shoots all of the chocolatiers’ pictures, and a graphic designer next door helps create marketing materials.

“You’ve got a neighbor,” said Jacky Recchiuti, joking that she could knock on someone’s door to ask for a cup of sugar. “People are willing to help each other out.”

On a late winter afternoon, the south building resembles a dorm hall, with giggling tenants running from unit to unit, brushing against posters promoting art shows. The dense scent of the Recchiutis’ baking chocolate creeps down the concrete halls.