Physical space suggestions

[FingerTech]

If we had 30 members paying $50 per month, that only amounts to $1500. That doesn't seem high enough to afford any other space (since we want extra $ for goodies), yet that is what I've heard we want the maximum membership to be.
It seems something will need to change for us to progress.

Edited to add:
I don't mean anything needs to change now, or even soon. $20 is good until we get a space, and $50 is good when we have a space. But once we have filled the space with fancy equipment (with its own maintenance costs), we will have to revisit fees and make sure they are where they should be.

[ADDandy]

is it possible to get any grants or possibly some sponsorship? help bring down the day to day cost?

[Bergo]

is it possible to get any grants or possibly some sponsorship? help bring down the day to day cost?

I would says it's a bit unlikly, I looked into grants available by the city, and there wasn't anyhting we'd qualify for (most of them were either ethnic centric, or inner city sports centric)

Also keep in mind that we are a non-profit corporation, not a charity, so that rules us out for most stuff.

[Odemia]

If we had 30 members paying $50 per month ... yet that is what I've heard we want the maximum membership to be."

I can't speak for everyone but when I have been talking about 20, 25 or 30 members I have been talking about it in terms of what I think we have in any reasonable amount of time.

But once we have filled the space with fancy equipment (with its own maintenance costs), we will have to revisit fees and make sure they are where they should be.

Maybe we need to rethink how equipment is acquired and purchased to alleviate that cost from our budget. Also if people want we can take the ENTS route of renting something a little larger and then renting out space within it. But this has the disadvantage of consuming a large amount of time and energy to subdivide and make the space rentable, that is space that could be spent making work areas, printers, cncs, robots etc.

[FingerTech]

Paul, how was your meeting with Curtis?

[DigitalOSH]

Sorry I've been MIA.

Meeting with Curtis was excellent. We mostly just talked about a few small details and firmed up that we are interested in the space. It sounds like all members will have fob access, which is great news. Only the ceiling will need to be soundproofed, which is also great. Power will be within the rent, but he is going to clamp our circuits for the first few months to get a feel for how much power we need. Rent may fluctuate according to this reading, but the process will be 100% transparent. He is looking into whether we can wire the suite ourselves. It seems as though we will share their network.

[FingerTech]

Nice! Sounds great.

[FingerTech]

Here's one last place from me to check out:
Pinehouse Plaza, 2000sqft, 933-0777

[rsilk]

This one?

http://www.colliersmn.com/prod/cclod.ns ... Unit+C.pdf

[FingerTech]

Yikes, yeah that's the one. I wasn't sure what what inside. Looks like pricy office space.