Entrepreneur Space Receives County Funding
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowTippecanoe County Commissioners have approved $500,000 to help pay for a co-working space designed to spark collaboration and creativity among entrepreneurs. The $1.5 million MatchBOX facility is set to open in the spring.
January 15, 2014
News Release
Lafayette, Ind. — MatchBOX Coworking Studio received both an endorsement and funding from the Tippecanoe County Commissioners Wednesday, January 15.
Commissioner Tom Murtaugh announced the county is contributing $500,000 of the $1.5 million cost of interior construction at the MatchBOX space at 17 S. Sixth St. and $10,000 a year in operations funding, expected to be about $475,000 annually.
First announced last March, MatchBOX’s plans and progress have proceeded quickly, said Ashley Scott, operations manager. She was hired in September 2013. The studio is slated to open in early spring 2014.
“Creating this co-working space—and doing it right—is an investment the Tippecanoe County commissioners deem exceptionally worthy,” Murtaugh said. “It's an investment in the future of our community, an investment in our economic health and our growth.”
The county's contribution goes well beyond providing for physical space, he said. “This space will be more than a bunch of separate offices and individual entrepreneurs working in isolation. It will fuel energy that comes from creative people working together, asking what if and sharing ideas. It will be a place where the dynamic of the whole will be greater than what each entrepreneur could do alone.”
Lafayette mayor Tony Roswarski welcomed the county's support.
“What this says about our community is that we do indeed work well together,” Roswarski said. “We prepare for the future. We believe in creative concepts and activities. And we want to give those with big ideas the place to bring them to fruition.”
MatchBOX Coworking Studio is a nonprofit venture that draws together creative people pursuing new ideas. The 10,000-square-foot studio at 17 S. Sixth St., Suite X, Lafayette, is being leased for $1 a year from Tippecanoe County Public Library. Space is flexible. It includes an open area conducive for working as well as interactions and exchanges, dedicated desks and small offices.
Memberships require a $99 one-time setup fee, with monthly fees from $50 for basic use to $150 a month for a reserved, set space. Access is available 24/7.
The studio is overseen by MatchBOX Coworking Studio LLC, whose partners include: Lafayette and Tippecanoe County governments; Greater Lafayette Commerce, Lafayette Urban Enterprise Association and Lafayettech, all organizations; Tippecanoe County Public Library; and, from education, Ivy Tech Community College – Lafayette, Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue University. Wintek Corp. is a sponsor, providing at no charge a 1 gigabit symmetrical Internet connection.
More information is available at www.matchboxstudio.org.
MatchBOX Coworking Studio
About Co-working
A 21st century movement, co-working, often dubbed “coworking,” brings together a community of people who independently and collaboratively pursue creative concepts and activities, share facility space and benefit from access to and interaction with others interested in new ideas and entrepreneurialism. This differs from accelerator space or incubators, where existing small businesses work to move to the next level, and it goes well beyond shared office space, where individuals or businesses work independently while pitching in to cover expenses.
About MatchBOX
MatchBOX Coworking Studio is a nonprofit venture that draws together creative people pursuing new ideas. It is leasing 10,000 square feet of a single-story building at 17 S. Sixth St., Suite X, Lafayette, owned by Tippecanoe County Public Library, which uses about 4,000 square feet in the building.
Space is flexible, configured similarly to successful co-working facilities operating elsewhere. It includes an open area conducive for working as well as interactions and exchanges, dedicated desks and small offices. Memberships require a $99 one-time setup fee, with monthly fees from $50 for basic use to $150 a month for a reserved, set space. Access is available 24/7.
The operations manager for MatchBOX is Ashley Scott.
It is slated to open in early spring 2014.
Source: Matchbox Coworking Studio