Granite City May Soon be Home to Community ‘Makerspace’

ST. CLOUD --  A spot for people who like to work with tools, and those who want to see what they can make with their hands may soon call St. Cloud home.

A "makerspace" is being planned for the Granite City. A makerspace is a collaborative workspace inside a building, be it public, or private. It's meant for people to learn, use and build things with tools but you won't need to provide any of your own tools.

Macanon "Mac" Dhein is the owner and operator of the future Make it Macs Makerspace. He says these are popular things across the country.

"I learned about the makerspace movement last year. It's been a growing movement for a decade, there are over 300 publically operated makerspaces across the United States."

Dhein says the makerspace will have a receptionist to check-in members and a retail shop so you can sell what you've made, or get ideas of what can be made inside the shop. He says you'll have your pick of three different trades.

"As you walk into the shop, it'll be separated into metalworking, woodworking or leatherworking. So you'll pick your section and have your pick of big industrial equipment to use depending on what your tastes are."

He says the Iron Range Makerspace has heavily inspired what "Make it Macs" will become.

Dhein says they've zeroed in on the old Gulfeagle Supply building as where they'd like to put the makerspace, which he says will provide ample space for everything he'd like to do. There will be a membership fee to use the space.

Dhein says they'd like to keep it around $50 a month. He also plans to have different ways to offset costs for members.

If you'd like more information, there is a community meeting for Saturday from noon - 2:00 p.m. in the Mississippi Room at the St. Cloud Public Library.

If all goes well, they hope to be up and running by the summer of next year.