TechShop was “a fantastic maker space, and St. Louis deserves a place for people to build things who want to build things,” McKelvey told the Post-Dispatch in late November.

The new maker space opening next year at 5127 Delmar Boulevard in the city’s Academy neighborhood is across the street from one of McKelvey’s other enterprises, Third Degree Glass Factory, a gallery and studio that has glass-blowing studios and kilns for artists.

McKelvey’s new maker space, which is still finalizing its name, will lease all the equipment from Cortex that was previously leased to TechShop. An opening date has not yet been set, and co-owner Doug Auer said the renovation of the facility will take several months.

Auer, who is also a co-owner of Third Degree, is overseeing the startup of the new maker space on Delmar that previously housed a Vespa scooter dealership.

“We’d love to be up and running in the summer, at the latest,” Auer said during a walk-through of the building this week.

The building formerly housed a car dealership, and about 100 vehicles that were in storage were recently removed from the second floor. Its sturdy construction, which can handle heavy machines, was a draw.