Interior of new Sector67 home on Corry St.
After about four years of searching, Sector67 founder Chris Meyer has found a new home for his acclaimed hackerspace and community workshop.
Meyer has negotiated a $400,000 contract to purchase a warehouse at 56 Corry St. on Madison’s east side and is in the process of raising funds to buy and renovate the building. The property is owned by Joe Krupp of Prime Urban Properties, and is currently being rented to Krupp General Contractors. So far, the nonprofit has raised about $580,000 towards the new space, which is more than 80 percent of its $700,000 target. Meyer hopes to move in within the next 12 to 18 months.
“To own our own space is something that we really wanted,” says Meyer, who has been renting warehouse space at 2100 Winnebago St. since he founded Sector67 in 2010. “There aren’t a lot of large, empty warehouses on the isthmus, and what is available is really expensive.”
Meyer always knew his time on Winnebago Street was limited — in 2012, his landlord, Accipiter Properties, gave warning that they were considering redeveloping the property. That particular project fell through, but as the economy recovered and as the surrounding Schenk-Atwood neighborhood became increasingly popular, Meyer knew Sector67’s space “wasn’t really safe.”
Later that year, Meyer started working with a group of local entrepreneurs to create the tech incubator StartingBlock, which would have provided a permanent home for Sector67. But as the project evolved and more partners came on board, terms changed and Meyer decided to break with the group in May 2016.
Meanwhile, there was another deal brewing at 2100 Winnebago. A group that had been trying to build a cohousing development at nearby Union Corners parted ways with the project and turned to Sector67 landlord Accipiter to see about moving the project to Winnebago Street. In September 2016, the groups struck an agreement to raze and redevelop the parcels containing Winnebago Studios, Sector67 and Madison Circus Space.
Fortunately, Meyer already had his new site identified. After the departure from StartingBlock, Meyer had resumed his property search, turning to former neighbor Key Commercial Real Estate for help with the “impossible task” of finding an affordable warehouse somewhere on Madison’s east side. Staying near Sector67’s current location was important to Meyer, who has grown to love the scrappy, creative vibe of the art spaces and locally owned businesses in the Atwood area. Plus, he wanted to stay near the local schools where he leads robotics clubs.
The folks at Key put Meyer in touch with Krupp, who owns several buildings in the Atwood area. Meyer gave Krupp a “sob story” about his quest to find affordable real estate, and Krupp agreed to sell his Corry Street warehouse, which is less than a mile from Sector67’s original location.
“The proximity couldn’t be better,” Meyer says. He’s hoping to build relationships with nearby East High School and the Goodman Community Center to expand his technology and engineering programs for kids. “I think it’s going to be a great partnership down the road.”
Meyer plans to fully renovate the 9,600-square-foot warehouse and raise the roof about 10 feet, which will provide a second-story mezzanine for storage and increase the building size to about 17,000 square feet. Creating a vision for the new space is the “fun part,” he says — design schematics submitted to the city of Madison show spaces for woodworking, welding, a classroom, a kitchen and a greenhouse. Much of the design and labor will be done by Sector67 members (they’re pretty handy), and many of the construction materials and plumbing fixtures were reclaimed from the shuttered Madison Municipal Building.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got a reasonable amount of time,” Meyer says. “I’m excited for what’s ahead.”
