In recent years, plenty of New England cities have renovated empty industrial buildings to boost their downtowns, filling them with apartments, offices, restaurants or art studios. Now it’s Claremont’s turn, with a twist.
The former home of Joy Manufacturing Co., a long-gone company that for decades dominated the economy in western New Hampshire, is becoming a makerspace. But while such do-it-yourself centers usually launch in a town on a shoestring, Claremont MakerSpace will launch in a big way after years of investments totaling close to $800,000.
“This one is, in many ways, being built backwards from the usual model,” said Steve Goldsmith, one of the co-founders of Claremont MakerSpace. “Usually a bunch of people got together with a couple of tools in a room … and when it grows, they move. We didn’t want to move.”
Makerspaces…
