INDIANAPOLIS — In the historic Riverside neighborhood on Indy's west side, progress is being made on the 16 Tech Innovation District.
A second building is now open on the 50-acre live, work and innovate campus. HqO is the district's headquarters.
Inside, there are three activity spaces including 1776, Machyne and The AMP.
"I was on Instagram and it looked like Machyne had followed me and I was interested in what it was and I started researching a little bit through their Instagram and it said it was a space to make things and that's exactly what I need, Kaitlan Vosler, owner and maker of Cream and Concrete said.
"We make basically all you see the concrete home decor, concrete jewelry pieces, lots of different thing out of things out of concrete," Vosler said.
Machyne is a membership-based maker space.
"It was an opportunity to use a 3D printer, use wood working, use different types of materials within my concrete and create new and exciting pieces. It gives me all the opportunities in the world so very excited about that," Vosler said.
HqO also features a workspace managed by 1776, a global innovator network with eight campuses throughout the country.
"1776 is one of our new homes and we are so thrilled," Kara Hawkins said.
Hawkins is the owner and founder of Innova Artis, a design marketing and education lifestyle company based in Indianapolis.
"It's so amazing for us to be here. A lot of us are moving around on project sites and things, but throughout the day we're here. We're crossing paths, we're having meetings with clients, we're doing our team member discussions," Hawkins said.
Her company is now expanding inside the third activity space at HqO, The AMP. Located in the old service garage for the Indianapolis Water Company, the AMP is a food hall and artisan marketplace. It's now home to Innova Wings + Greens.
"With us being a diverse international company with team members ranging of all ethnicities, I thought what better way to infuse our food with that. We have chicken wings with all different flavors ranging from island flavors, Caribbean flavors and Asian flavors," Hawkins said.
Inside The AMP, there are more than 16 vendors, all operating out of shipping containers. The public is invited to opening celebrations for The AMP starting Monday June 21 through Sunday June 27.
The first building at 16 Tech Innovation District is called Innovation One, it opened last August. It's home to companies like Indiana Biosciences Research Institute and IU Med School.
A big focus of the 16 Tech Community Corporation is on building the jobs pipeline. Part of their work focuses on inclusive talent development.
"So that means education and jobs. How are we going to make sure the young people live in the area are in the education pipeline for the jobs that will be heavily in stem here the district? How are the parents that are working now, maybe not working, not making enough or as much as they want or is maybe they want to start a business how do we create those opportunities for their parents to realize the economic benefits of the district as well?" Starla Hart said.
Hart is the Director of Community Initiatives with the 16 Tech Community Corporation. She also lead the effort of creating a community investment fund that has already provided $1 million in grants to organizations in the surrounding neighborhoods.
"It's really important especially for a development like ours because across the country, across the globe really, time and time again you see when folks work on development projects they are to go where the land has been forgotten and don't consider who is really left here and who could benefit from what they're trying to do," Hart said. "We want to do development a little different. We want to show a new way of being able to work and being able to support neighbor's right from the beginning to ensure that there are a few adverse effects as possible from our development."
