KITCHENER - The developers of a hardware accelerator inside a 475,000-square-foot warehouse expect to lease out all of the space during the next six months.

Catalyst137 co-founders Frank Voisin and Kurtis McBride are excited about the interest in what they call one of the world's biggest hubs for software-enabled devices and the Internet of Things. They went public with their plans for the space in June.

"Leasing has completely blown away our expectations," Voisin, president of real estate investment firm Voisin Capital, said in an interview.

"It is pretty exciting to see it come together," added McBride, co-founder and chief executive officer of Miovision, a Kitchener company that specializes in collecting and analyzing traffic data. "Give us another six months and you won't even recognize this place."

Miovision will take the biggest chunk of space in the building at 137 Glasgow St., right next to the Iron Horse Trail. Alert Labs, FoxNet Solutions, MyShop Makerspace, Snap Pea Design, Spin and Swift Labs are among the local companies that have signed leases.

McBride said the focus is on helping hardware startups get their products to market as quickly as possible. Attracting tenants that can help entrepreneurs do that is critical to Catalyst137's brand, he said.

"We talk about being a maker campus focused on the Internet of Things," McBride said. "So groups like SigmaPoint, MyShop, which focus on rapid prototyping and contract manufacturing in place, make the brand true."

SigmaPoint Technologies, a contract manufacturer based in Cornwall, Ont., will assemble printed circuit boards at Catalyst137.

"It is a full suite of services from supply chain management to demand planning to manufacturing to delivery," Jackie McGowan, SigmaPoint's business development manager, said of the firm's services.

SigmaPoint, which employs slightly more than 300 people in Cornwall, says it will be able to fill orders in three to seven days.

"We do compete with China, and we want to prove it right here in Kitchener-Waterloo," McGowan said.

In the past week, Kitchener approved building permits for the extensive renovations that will take place inside and outside the building, a former warehouse for the Uniroyal Goodrich tire plant that used to operate next door on Strange Street.

In about a month, work will begin on re-cladding the exterior. New windows will be put in and skylights will be installed over commons areas inside.

"We are bringing natural light into the common areas, and then it bounces around with all the light and all the glass," Voisin said.

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About 90 per cent of the $65-million budget for redevelopment has been tendered, Voisin said, adding that as work advances the improved look of the building will attract more tenants.

"The people who come in February, March, April, I think it is going to be the easiest sell in the world," he said. "At this rate we would be full in early Q2."