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We need a place where we can go and work on these projects in an environment that stimulates creativity and motivation. The shop will provide a work area, resources, and knowledge to help people with their projects.

Status: We have a Make Shop!

Brainstorm!

Possible means of obtaining said shop:

Become a for-profit "professional" Make Shop. See: http://www.techshop.ws/
- See We need income section.
Become non-profit organization and find projects that are a good source of income to pay for the shop.

Moneyz

This section has moved to We_need_income#Moneyz

Locations

Us Requesting Space

Have posted to the Huntsville livejournal community
Have posted to Craigslist

Potential Spots 2009

Inergi Building (Across from 3409 Governors Drive)

Talk to Receptionist (Her name is Laura) to find out who to talk to
- Front desk number is: 1.256.704.7700

Potential Spots 2008

flagr.com map of location scouting: http://www.flagr.com/maps/makeshophsv

3409 Governors Dr

For Sale\Lease on Governors: 759-7118 (Other House looking place)
Option to buy for $165,000
1,100 ~ 1200 sqft
$650/mo to rent, $650 deposit
Private parking is limited, Laura (owner) said there are back alleys close by if we need to have a large group there.
- Parking situation isn't that bad now that we've looked at it. Laura also said we could park in the gated back yard, which gives us a fair amount of parking.

- Go down governors like you're going to Bandito. It's on the right. There are two house looking things right next to each other, one is for rent, one for sale. We're looking at the one with the for sale sign (which is also for lease).
- She said yes to the shed, and actually prefers that it be a large shed. She requested that we do a firm platform for a floor vs. concrete floor because if you do concrete you have to get a permit and it becomes much more expensive.
- Window units and heaters are being installed now
- our lease will even include mention of a promise to build the shed
- One year lease
- Laura recommended we handle our own utilities, as she forgot he had already recieved her deposit back from that location. She said it was around $100, very do-able for us. She thinks our utilities will be around $40 a month.... I'm skeptical of this, but I think whatever the bill is it will be within our budget.
- Lease would begin on April 1st, but she said we can have access to the place early!
- I asked her when a good day to sign the lease was and she said tomorrow. I told her that it would probably be one or two days later, she went away with the impression of us signing on Wednesday.
- I asked her to leave the most beatup desk that was already there, and she has at least two folding tables that she can give us.
- She recommended Habitat Resale Store for cheap floor protecting and other thrift shop needs.
- she recommended Companion Insurance (533-5600, ask for Steve Succi) for limited liability insurance

Pictures
Number for someone at Knology that can help with Internet 256-489-6419
Pros
- Very Near Bandito
- Said we could keep utilities in her name. Its something to look into, might save up a lot, might not.
- She seemed very open to let us do whatever.
- Option for a 6month lease, but it seemed like we wouldn't be able to change much.
- Back Yard.
- Multi-person lease
- Building a Shed permitted with paid materials.
- Cat5 is already run
- She has tables that she can lend us for the space. We would have to scavenge or buy these, saving us either a lot of time, or a lot of money

Cons
- Brand new carpeted floors (no option to pull up)
  - Would need to lay down carpet protector
- No central heat or air.

Next to Game Over

Office space
$1600 a month.
1550sqft
2 bathroom
1 office.
Pros
Cons

Commercial Building on 1 Acre Lot

Office Style

FPS Paintball

Some office space they can sublet. The main leaser is waiting on input as to how much space we need and what we're looking to pay.

Old Monrovia

Bombed out pink gas station on old monrovia. Need to contact McCormick realty: 837 8220

Madison Bonded Warehouse

[1]
Flyer
can get 1000 sq/ft, for $250/month
The facility is NOT climate controlled.
Pic's JimShoe Took
Fence locked outside of business hours.
no bathrooms
Doesn't see a problem with building walls

Old Star99 Building

flagged on flagr: 536-3345
$1500/month with 3year lease
- He sounded old, and maybe if we talk to him he might come down on the lease lengh and cost
3200sq/ft
Has some small offices
3 air units
4 restrooms
few hundred sq/ft back yard fenced in.

Lowe Mill

3-14-08, Letter to Lowe Mill sent.
3-15-08, Talked to Catherine, she said Flying Monkey is just for Arts. Forwarded previous email to Grace to is responsible for renting out the remainder of the warehouse.

Warehouse on Governors

For Rent on Governors: 520-6000 (Warehouse looking place)
- 6000 sqft, $3500/mo

Sharp House on Governors

For Rent on Governors: 533-2484 (House looking place)
- Sharp Communications is offering, open M-F till 4:30. Need to call for details.

112 Ryland Ridge Cir

1575 ft^2
$5.71/foot/year
heated/cooled
bathrooms
~300 ft^2 "flex space"
Bill Poole: 533-0990
Pictures
Pros
- Ideal building
- Close to JimShoe
Cons
- 9 miles from a Piggly Wiggly
- It is a ways from HSV.

Questions to ask Leasers

Access times? (prefer 24/7)
Any power tool restrictions? (noise, size)
Power availability? 110, 220?
Any rules on building interior structures? (such as walls, lofts)
Any rules prohibiting installation of internet? (more a question of who would install to that location)
Min sqft purchase requirement?
What security is available? Guards? Fence? Yard Dogs? Moat?
Is it climate controlled?
Lease period?
Utilities?
Are there bathrooms?

Progress

06/06/2007: Opticron's mother is a real estate agent and is asking her contact for info on something that's sub-$1000 a month with 1K+ sq ft.
06/28/2007: Sent an e-mail to the LUNA mailing list explaining who we are and asking the locals if they had or knew of any space they'd be willing to donate or cheaply rent for our cause. No great details, but I expect some curious folk to reply.
07/16/2007: Added the Leeman Ferry place listed above and the place at 200 Jordan Ln to the MakeShop Scouting flagr map linked in the side bar. Brimstone called the number on the front of the 200 Jordan Ln location but hasn't heard back yet.
02/16/2008: Field trip to the hideous pink building on Old Monrovia. We "did not" enter it. Lots of space. Also, lots of plywood doors, and wires hanging from the ceiling. Omegix called with no answer. There is a for sale sign out front. I suspect there's a large issue with the wiring and building.
02/16/08: Field trip to a commercial property spot of suites. Go to the intersection of Enterprise and University: Go straight. There's a series of suites on the left. Talked to the owner: Johnny Evans who said he had one suite left and he'd give it to us for about $1300 a month with 1 year lease. If we don't grab this soon, it'll be gone. Not sure what the square footage is. Judging by the suite next door- it's about 4 times the size of the narrows living room. We need to find 13 people that can reliably contribute $100 a month for a year. Probably more since we need utilities and stuff. Someone mentioned offering to split a T1 connection with Game Over- the suite next door. We told Johnny it was an Amateur Inventor's Group/ think tank or something.

Things to remember

No matter where we decide to rent, make sure we have a real estate/property lawyer evaluate and negotiate the lease. Commercial leases are highly mutable---we have a lot of say in our liabilities, but a lawyer is really needed to make sure we aren't getting screwed.
Essay on Private club legal status regarding membership and equal access and whatnot: [2]
Site about private clubs: [3]

Interior

Walls

Potentially we will be selecting a warehouse where we are allowed to build our own enclosure. The place will likey want something easily removed, while we will want something that is sturdy enough to fall into and not knock down. A quick google search turned up this:

How to Build an Interior Wall
More How to Build a Wall, includes Furring tips
What about a fence, like for a back yard?

Since we'll be in a warehouse, and responsible for our Utilities use, it's likely that we'll have to build a double wall, with insulation on the inside. Also taken into account will be inserting structures to hold the weight of a window unit air conditioner.

Archives/Shop 1.0/We need a place 2008

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