The Midland Building (pictured left) is located just up the street from StartupCity Des Moines.
There’s been a lot of talk about what comes after StartupCity Des Moines when its funding ends in September. There have been community meetings and a report of findings from those meetings. And now, there just might be an answer.
Today Geoff Wood published a blog post outlining some of his thoughts and ideas for a space that would become Des Moines’ next “entrepreneurial center of gravity.”
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In his post, Wood proposed leasing an entire floor—6,600 square feet of space—in the Midland Building located just up 6th Street from StartupCity. The building—recently under new ownership—has been undergoing somewhat of a transformation, first with the addition of Scooter’s Coffee after Amici Espresso closed and soon with the addition of a restaurant.
“It’ll be a physical front door to the Des Moines startup community right in the city’s core where we’ll welcome visitors, new residents and anyone else who wants to be a part of it,” Wood (right) wrote. “It’ll also be a place to mix new entrepreneurs with the established business community in Central Iowa. This is crucial and something we haven’t always done well here in the past.”
Wood told Silicon Prairie News he’s discussed the process with Iowa Startup Accelerator managing director Eric Engelmann, who has helped foster a similar space in Cedar Rapids. Engelmann, CEO of Geonetric, is helping create eastern Iowa’s own center of gravity through the company’s new building, which also will house the Iowa Startup Accelerator and Vault Co-Working Space.
For the 16 companies and handful of remote co-workers that work out of StartupCity, a new space would mean cheap office space downtown, but also a continuity to the environment the current space has built. The new location in the Midland Building would allow for both individual offices as well as open-floorplan workspace.
For organizers of gatherings like CodeDay or Startup Weekend, a new community space would serve as an easy place to host events. The Midland also has a WiFi-enabled conference room that seats up to 200 for larger, multi-day events.
Not only do startup companies—Banno and Torsion Mobile—already have offices in the building, but Dwolla’s offices are located just next door. Wood also notes the Midland Building’s proximity to other community points of interest—just one block from the Walnut Street redevelopment project and three blocks from the newly opened Des Moines Social Club.
Steps for moving forward
Wood highlights three areas that will be crucial when it comes to moving forward with a plan for a new entrepreneurial community center in Des Moines:
Co-working
“Co-working requires a critical mass of individuals and companies to work,” Wood wrote. “It’s not something that is for everybody and we want to be sure and incorporate the lessons learned from the experience of StartupCity and others in the past like Impromptu Studio and Foundry Coworking.”
If you’re interested in co-working out of the new space—whether one person or an entire company—contact Geoff Wood via email. Be sure to share both what amenities you would need and what you want in a new space.
Programming
If you manage a user group or host monthly meetups, what would you like to see in a new space? Let Wood know via email or leave your comments below.
Launch funding
In order to get this idea off the ground, help with improvements and furnish the new space, launch capital will likely need to be raised. “Much like sponsoring a conference—this is a way for those companies to help showcase their involvement and help support the creation of new and growing scalable technology businesses in Des Moines,” Wood writes.
If you are personally interested or represent a company interested in supporting this venture, contact Wood via email.
Have thoughts on the new, proposed space in the Midland Building? Let us know in the comments below.
Read Wood’s full blog post on Welch Avenue Daily: “A plan for Des Moines’ next ‘entrepreneurial center of gravity’“
