LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Center by SIDIS, Louisville's new hub for startup companies, formally opened on Wednesday after three years of planning and $5.5 million in renovations.
SIDIS, a privately held Fort Collins, Colorado firm that invests in life sciences -- including two Louisville-based companies -- bought and made over the former DeHart Paint & Varnish Co. at 900 E. Main Street in NuLu.
The building, a for-profit venture of SIDIS, is home to a pair of SIDIS-backed Louisville companies, Adaptive Endo and Lifelines Neuro. Other tenants include Story Louisville, a co-working space, and the Louisville Entrepreneurship Acceleration Partnership, a new, state-funded effort to boost the local startup scene.
Kent Oyler, CEO of Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce, said the chamber years ago identified the need for a hub -- something found in many larger cities -- but lacked the funding to make it happen.
"Projects like this are critical for entrepreneurship," he said. "You have to create density -- collisions -- a place where people can gather and share ideas and maybe even a little bit of pain."
