Jessica Goff

jgoff@theadvertiser.com

A few months ago, a group of volunteers launched a campaign to transform the warehouse at 401 E. Cypress Drive into a “makerspace,” or a place where artists, craftsmen and other designers could practice their artforms.

Yet the building, unofficially titled “Lafayette’s Unnamed Makerspace,” remains empty.

As of Friday afternoon, the project’s Facebook page has been silent since May 21.

Rumors surrounding the funds raised since its informal open house on March 23 have been begun to circulate on various online forums. The makerspace’s Facebook page was used to advertise that it was charging $10 for parking during Festival International de Louisiane.

As of now, that money hasn’t gone toward equipment and tools that organizers said the warehouses are going to house.

On May 17, a post requesting leasers was posted on its Facebook page.

“Who needs some cheap space in a warehouse to work out of? The lease for the warehouse is currently held by the board president, David Maynor,” the post said. “In order to transfer it over to the (organization), we need firm subletting commitments from enough people to show we can cover our rent and utilities.”

The phone number listed on the post was disconnected as of Friday afternoon.

Maynor said he has been paying the rent and utility costs for the warehouse out of pocket over the last three months.

There is a $7,000 grant waiting to be used on equipment, but it cannot allocated to cover rent and utilities, Maynor said Friday.

Maynor said he agreed to pay three months’ worth of rent to allow organizers time to establish the organization’s membership and bylaws as a working co-op.

A press release was issued in March announcing the upcoming open house, which attracted nearly a dozen people. It stated that the project could eventually offer “3-D printers, metalworking equipment, laser etchers, photography equipment, robotics equipment, open-source electronics” and woodworking tools to be used by its members.

None of that has made its way into the warehouse.

Though the project has stalled, Maynor said, a membership meeting is expected to happen within the next few weeks.

“Now we are regrouping trying to get some of that information that was put out there and put it back together,” he said. “We pulled some volunteers together that are helping us put together that in a structured way to say ‘here’s the day we have set have and here are the bylaws that we’ve proposed.’ So within the next few weeks we are looking at making that happen in terms of that initial meeting.”