Wow! That’s a very impressive facility!
That’s a crazy amount of industrial machines. I’ve sewn costumes for theatre and we didn’t have a setup like that. Very impressive. I like the idea of rented space - Meow Wolfs attached makerspace (very small) https://makesantafe.org/the-makerspace-has-a-home/ has the same setup of rented small studio areas.
Looks like the building was bought by Robert W. Deutsch Foundation via BARCO. Anyone want to get ahold of Ross Perot? Lol
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Rented space in a makerspace scares me. It would bring in more personal ownership while beating down community ownership. I’m proud we have gotten as far as we have without personal work areas for rent.
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Thanks for sharing this @AlexRhodes. It is interesting.
I read a lot of their information. It looks like they are comparably equipped to what we are - in some cases a little better (52" brake shear, sewing) in some cases less (no Haas, no auto shop). I see that their most expensive membership (ProMembership at $125 per month) with 76 hours of access weekly is the closest to being comparable to our $50 membership. But they also have a huge staff of both full- and part-timers.
I noted that they have a lot of “suites” available for rent and in reading the “business models” for several other makerspaces I see that this figures prominently into the finances. I would be curious to know what their fill rate is on those suites (not at Open Works, of course, because they haven’t been open very long) but elsewhere.
Their literature somewhat vaguely states that they are a project of BARCO which is a 501©3. It leads one to assume they are hence a 501©3 but I don’t know if that’s a valid assumption. It was also interesting to me that they encourage people to start/run businesses using their resources. If they are a not-for-profit, then they don’t seem to have any concerns about people using the resources to run a business. In fact, they are encouraging it.
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I hate to be dense, but I don’t know if you’re serious or if you’re pulling my leg.
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He is serious…
Purchased and waiting for delivery is my understanding
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