The Dublin Entrepreneurial Center will host an open house on Wednesday, March 25 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. to celebrate six successful years and unveil 5,400 square feet of additional space. Currently occupying the third floor of 565 Metro Place South in Dublin, the DEC will add its additional offices on the first floor.
“We’ve seen a constant demand for space which is exciting,” says DEC Economic Development Director Colleen Gilger. As a number of companies have launched and left the DEC, they have been able to easily back-fill the space.
Gilger says the additional offices are a response to the growing number of entrepreneurs not only seeking the right space, but the right environment.
“We think it’s so much more than just the physical office space,” she says. The DEC offers a strong sense of community where entrepreneurs can find help nurturing their ideas.
With the additional square footage, the DEC is creating 14 to 16 new offices and expanding their training space. The downstairs offices will be larger, making them more accommodating to more than one person in a space.
“This is allowing some of those growing companies a chance to move into bigger spaces where they can still say within the confines of the DEC,” Gilger says.
Their current 50 to 60 person training room has proven to not be enough space for events.
“To add a second, large training room, it’s going to make our event days much more successful because we can have multiple programs going on at the same time,” Gilger says. It allows more flexibility to educate and train more individuals.
When the DEC started six years ago, it was in response to the downturn in the economy. People that were laid off were taking those ideas they may have been harboring and turning them into businesses. However when the recession slowly ended, the DEC continued to grow.
“What it told us was Central Ohio really is a hotbed for entrepreneurship,” Gilger says.
As the organization becomes more established, Gilger says they will also begin really tracking the number of entrepreneurs they have helped and looking for those success stories.
Visitors will have a chance to tour the new spaces during the open house and meet some of the entrepreneurs housed at the DEC. Tom Walker of Rev1 Ventures (formerly TechColumbus) will also offer opening remarks at 6:00 p.m. Walker will share success stories and discuss plans to reinvigorate the startup community to keep the momentum going.
To RSVP, visit meetup.com/techlifecolumbus and click on the calendar. For more information, visit decindublin.com.