As some of you might already know, the building currently occupied by QC Co-Lab has recently been sold from Eastern Iowa Community Colleges (EICC) to a local business owner, Bill Sheeder.
Due to this change in ownership, there will be a number of changes happening at QC Co-Lab. We, the board of directors, are working to mitigate as much disruption to the membership as possible, however, there will be some. Rent for the building has increased from $10.00 a year to $1,000.00 per month. There are also several major building maintenance issues that will be expensive to fix, and it’s unclear how much of that will be QC Co-Lab’s responsibility. Additionally, the new owner has expressed some plans to utilize parts of the building for his own purposes, which will include the front 1/3 of the upstairs, and we will no longer have use of the South Parking lot (across the alley). The areas of the lab located in the front 1/3 are currently being relocated elsewhere in the building.
The QC Co-Lab board are currently exploring all options, however, the current situation is not sustainable due to the increase in cost and the reduction in space. If you have any specific questions or would like to help problem solve the upcoming challenges to QC Co-Lab please do not hesitate to reach out to Board@qccolab.com .
With the reduction in space and our priority on trying to mitigate disruption to the membership, we have also put together a quick survey on how we utilize the space. Please take a second to fill this out! https://forms.gle/M9D4hMUQUX1g6Ujb6
Additional information: Bill Sheeder, with his wife Stephanie Sellers, own the “Baked Beer & Bread Co.” restaurant in the Village of East Davenport. They also own the “Cookies & Dreams” cookie company. Bill Sheeder also owns the building immediately South of QC Co-Lab (the former kennel club building) and is renovating it to use as a storage & shipping facility for one of his businesses. He initially stated that he purchased the building occupied by QC Co-Lab primarily to gain access to the South parking lot.
QC Co-Lab 2021 Board of Directors
Shari Telman
Ben Ziegler
Ryan Weekly
Erika Schmidt
Bob Fitzgerald
Brian Schultz
Leonard Metallo