Columbus Idea Foundry, Continues Conquest for World Domination

Columbus Idea Foundry

If you’ve been a reader of Coptool for a couple years you might remember back in 2009 when we started talking about the Columbus Idea Foundry an interesting concept for a local community workspace (original CIF) which at the time was 2500 sq ft of industrial space that occasionally flooded and the landlord didn’t know what to do with. The place was a mess, equipment was all donated and definitely more of a club than a business. The idea however was very powerful and people wanted to be a part of it.

CEO Columbus Idea Foundry

Alex Bandar, the bald headed mastermind at the wheel, definitely had the vision for not just what the space could be and really on how to make small businesses better. If you ask Alex he’ll probably take little credit for all the amazing things the CIF accomplished, the continued role it is playing in revitalizing Franklinton Area, the support/guidance he’s provided for dozens of other maker spaces or for helping Columbus to be named one of the “Smartest Cities” in the world (DailyMail.co.uk) by the ICF. Having known him personally for 7+ years it’s not an accident his vision has fleshed out to what is quickly becoming the model for collaborative maker spaces nationwide.

The Columbus Idea Foundry settled into its current location just last year but only had the budget to renovate the first floor, still a huge undertaking of 60,000 sq ft. The Phase 2, second floor with a matching footprint was held off for a later date and slated as the “clean work space” to be free of sawdust and less likely to have sparks flying at you. The vision, open flexible rooms for classes and meetups, co-working office space and permanently house service based businesses that might compliment the work going on in the space below.

The original Phase 2 idea was to raise the needed $1.25 million overtime and from a lot of different sources. Local couple and true believers of Alex’s vision Nancy Kramer and Christopher Celeste put up more than the needed amount to become minority stakeholders, with part as a loan (details not disclosed). The fit should provide the ground work for future growth and continued expansion, a truly exciting time for the CIF.

The basement another pretty sweet opportunity for expansion (Phase 3?) has very tall ceilings and some of the original mechanicals of the shoe factory it started as a century before. A bit damp and musty but talk of potentially housing an arena for Robot Fight Clubs may just be the perfect fit.

For more on the continued expansions check out the real press coverage from Business First and Columbus Underground. The work will again be done by Compton Construction.

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