Happy Monday, friends.
We’re thrilled that you’re interested in Groover Labs, our region’s newest makerspace, coworking center and event hall. Thank you for signing up for more information about us.
We wanted to let you know what we’ve been up to at 334 N. St. Francis. Even though we haven’t fully opened yet, we’ve certainly been busy. What does opening a 42,000-square-foot space such as Groover Labs look like?
It looks like spending sunny Saturdays stringing four miles of CAT6 Ethernet cable, assembling 502 chairs after lunch, building a stage in an afternoon and staying up till 11 p.m. making 24 awards boxes for the 17th Annual Tallgrass Film Festival. It's road-tripping to Kansas City three times to load (and then unload) furniture, cabinetry and 75-inch TVs from IKEA. It's walking the building, punch list in hand, with Hutton, our design build partner.
The Ulrich Museum of Art’s Salon Circle kicked off its season, Futurists: Changing the Present, Sept. 29 in our makerspace. FlagshipKansas.Tech, a statewide technology initiative we support, christened our event hall Oct. 16 with its “Scaling Up Tech” networking program.
Students from Wichita State University’s Masters of Innovation Design program participated in design swarms Oct. 24 led by Surya Vanka, a former director of user experience at Microsoft. WSU ShiftSpace, the student-operated gallery at Wichita State University, has moved into our building and is already sharing amazing work with the Wichita community.
The mission of our nonprofit is to fuel collaboration and product development. We’re eager to ramp up Wichita’s startup culture by anchoring a community where people with big ideas can work side-by-side — from concept to market. Entrepreneurship is the heart of Groover Labs.
We closed on the former Printing Inc. building in November 2018. Hutton began our 42,000-square-foot design build project in April. We’re investing more than $5 million in Groover Labs, a continuation of our philanthropy through the Gridley Family Foundation.
After hearing about the Printing Inc. location, we purposefully chose Third and St. Francis, situated in an Opportunity Zone, as the home for Groover Labs. So much is happening in this part of Wichita’s Old Town, and we wanted to be part of it.
This was our first construction project of this size, and every day brought new decisions, challenges and discoveries — such as the old barrel ceiling you see below that had been covered by drywall. We opened up the beautiful ceiling to pay tribute to the building’s history and installed skylights as a major design feature of our coworking space. Throughout this project, we've worked with local vendors as much as possible — such as Walsh Oak and Iron, the company that handmade our board and conference room tables of gorgeous white oak.
Ultimately, however, we haven’t invested in a building.
We’ve invested in our community — and you.
When you join Groover Labs, you’ll find yourself surrounded by other people with big ideas. We’re confident that our vibrant culture will inspire your work. We envision our members finding ways to collaborate together for greater success.
Our board rooms, conference rooms and 275-person event space are all available for booking. If you have an event coming up soon, please reach out to us to see if Groover Labs would be a good fit for it.
Keep updated by visiting our website. We’re on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Lastly, we're expanding our staff! We're seeking a community associate to manage our front lobby. Successful applicants will be punctual, professional, proactive and thorough — a quick-learning self-starter who works well in a fast-paced environment and enjoys interacting with people. You'll need basic computer skills and the ability to lift 50 pounds. Interested or know someone who fits the bill? Email info@grooverlabs.org.
Thank you again for your interest in Groover Labs, and we’ll be in touch soon when we begin accepting members.
Cheers,
Co-Founders Curt Gridley and Tracy Hoover