(LAGRANGE) - After years of planning, partnership, fundraising and construction, the new LaGrange County Innovation Center will be opening soon.
The LaGrange County Economic Development Corporation helped spearhead this development at 2500 Ventura Way.
The Grand Opening will be on Friday, November 13 from 1 PM until 7 PM. This is open to the public and no RSVP is required.
Guests will have the opportunity to explore the newly renovated facility through guided and self-guided tours, meet and interact with staff members from the organizations housed within the Innovation Center, enjoy light refreshments and cake, and enter a raffle available to everyone who attends.
The Grand Opening marks the culmination of an approximately $4.6 million project, managed by the LaGrange County Economic Development Center to transform the former surgery center into a shared resource designed to address several of LaGrange County's economic and community development needs at once.
The LaGrange County Community Foundation, with assistance from Thrive by 5, had secured a Lilly Early Years Initiative grant to help address the county's significant need for additional childcare. However, the funding available at the time was not sufficient to both purchase and renovate the former surgery center for that purpose.
While the Innovation Center will serve as the permanent home of the LaGrange County Economic Development Center, it will also be the home of the LaGrange County Chamber of Commerce, GO Explore Childcare & Preschool and The Hub/CoWork LaGrange, a flexible co-working and entrepreneurial resource space designed to support small businesses, startups, remote workers and aspiring entrepreneurs. The Hub will provide opportunities for coworking, meetings, programming, classes rentable offices and other resources intended to help businesses start, grow and succeed in LaGrange County. The facility also includes a community room with capacity for approximately 60 people, creating a new option for meetings, trainings, workshops and community gatherings.