Cedar Rapids co-working space to move next spring

By next spring, the Vault will have a new home.

The co-working space will move next spring from its location on the fifth floor of the Guaranty Bank building, 222 Third St. SE, in downtown Cedar Rapids to the second floor of what will be the new Geonetric site.

Geonetric is slated to break ground this summer on the former Iowa Steel plant in the NewBo District, at 415 12th Ave. SE.

The move was announced Thursday night at the Vault by Andy Stoll and Amanda Styron, co-owners of Seed Here Studio, which operates the collaboration space.

Stoll also noted during the event that UP Global will hold an invitation-only event in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City on Oct. 21-23.

It will be the entrepreneurship-advocacy group's first U.S. event since the merger of Startup Weekend and the Startup America Partnership in May, Stoll said. Previous events, held in cities such as Dallas and Phoenix, attracted some 200 attendees.

"It will bring the world's foremost thinkers around helping and encouraging and developing entrepreneurial communities to Iowa, and even more exciting, it will give us the opportunity to showcase all of the work that is being done in the Corridor and across the state," Stoll said.

Eric Engelmann, Geonetric president and CEO, explained Thursday that employees of the health-care software company and Vault users, expected to number almost 200 people by 2015, will share the second floor of Geonetric's new location.

"Geonetric is really investing in the community by building this building in New Bohemia, and then they're taking it to another level by partnering with us," Styron said.

Styron said the move to NewBo will keep Vault "in the core of Cedar Rapids."

The cost to the Vault to share Geonetric's space has not yet been finalized, she added.

Also announced Thursday night was the creation of the Vault Startup School, to begin next month. Projected courses include  strategies on innovation, raising capital and lean start-up principles, Stoll said.

There are now 30 members who are use Vault's office space, Styron said.