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Hello!
I personally have a load of table top gaming items and to be completely honest I want to find a space that I could turn into workshop or "art" studio of sorts
Living in inland empire, I found plenty of retail listings but due to zoning laws and such that just won't do.
Does anyone know of were I can find a spot for my hobby ?
And if your curious on how I can afford it, it's multiple people getting in on it , so a decent sized space is needed.
Anyway, any help or advice is appreciated
Thanks
Antonio

Maybe look into a climate controlled storage unit? Don't know what kind of policies those places have on how you can use them.
If you've got a big enough backyard, you could build a large workshop.

Rather than retail space, how about something more like office space, that's not in an area with lots of offices or big building? There should be less zoning kinds of issues if you're not in a space that needs to deal with the public, and some office space can be kind of cheap if you shop around. Or you might be able to find someone renting a really large garage, or really small warehouse... those might be best since you won't have to worry about spilling liquid resin all over the carpet and stuff like that.

You should talk to your local municipal Community Development Director or Chamber of Commerce representative. They can probably point you in the right direction.

Community centres, churches, community hall and sports centres are where I would start looking. Many of them will have either owned or access to rooms large enough for wargamers to use and are often already used to the idea of renting out the space for hobbies and other activities.

The community based ones are likely to also be aware of other places that could potentially be used for such activities. You might even get some advance from your local council offices (just be prepared to ask more than one department or get passed around between departments and that sometimes your answer will depend on asking the right question of the reception office as to if they work out what you're after and send you the right way).

If any of the group are in education locally then that is another ideal avenue to look down; although some schools/units won't hire out buildings within term time to outside use (and some can have strict restrictions on non-students on school property even after hours). If none of the group are in education you're less likely to get anywhere regular, but you might use it as an avenue to research for out of term venues for a larger event (many schools rent out their halls and buildings - esp during the summer holidays).

Youth clubs, community clubs, church groups have all been used by gamers for gaming clubs here over the years.

In the latter case, it helped that the local pastor was in the hobby.

I know Polonius has done this in the US, I'll point him to this thread . I think it's fairly common in the UK, but no nearly so much on this side of the pond!

I'm extremely fortunate to have a gaming club (not a store) 5 minutes from my work! We all pay a yearly membership fee, which helps keep the lights on

How big is your plot of land? You can get a Pole Barn with poured concrete floor if you have the space. May take a small loan to pay for it and the necessary wiring for the AC/Heat, but in the long run it'd be cheaper than renting.

 fullmetaljacket wrote:
Hello!
I personally have a load of table top gaming items and to be completely honest I want to find a space that I could turn into workshop or "art" studio of sorts
Living in inland empire, I found plenty of retail listings but due to zoning laws and such that just won't do.
Does anyone know of were I can find a spot for my hobby ?
And if your curious on how I can afford it, it's multiple people getting in on it , so a decent sized space is needed.
Anyway, any help or advice is appreciated
Thanks
Antonio

as RiTides mentioned, a group of friends and I rented office space when I lived in Cleveland. Here are a few pointers:
- go off the beaten path. You don't need or even want to be visible from a street. This drives the price way down.
-Look at older buildings. Office space is traditionally divided into "classes," look at the Class C stuff. You're not trying to impress clients, you're trying to play games.
- Prepare to spend time calling around. You need space at a low cost, and pretty much everything else is negotiable. Try to find the most idiosyncratic space.
-Have an agreement with anybody going in, but be prepared to cover the lease yourself if need be. You will be amazed how many people you know love the idea of a private gaming space, but can't cough up even $50 a month to make it happen.
- Make sure you have a lease. Some distressed properties will let you go month to month, or even almost squat. This is cheap, but you can end up with very little notice to vacate.
- Make sure your SO is on board. My fiance (now wife) loved it because it got 98% of my gaming stuff out of our apartment.

Our group took advantage of a situation somewhat unique to us, which was a half empty, older office buildng in a pretty decent suburb. We were able to rent 450 square feet, with 24 hour access, for $475 a month. It wasn't that much mroe than a storage unit at that point.

Thank you all for the suggestions and such, and once I'm out of my apartment a backyard gaming area is exactly what I want!

Thank you for the class C office info. And currently the SO doesn't live with me and is only a Junior Officer at the moment so she doesn't have as much weight in the decision.

Anyway thanks for all the info gentleman and ladies
It is greatly appreciated
Fmj


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thank you all for the suggestions and such, and once I'm out of my apartment a backyard gaming area is exactly what I want!

Thank you for the class C office info. And currently the SO doesn't live with me and is only a Junior Officer at the moment so she doesn't have as much weight in the decision.

Anyway thanks for all the info gentleman and ladies
It is greatly appreciated
Fmj

 Polonius wrote:

 fullmetaljacket wrote:
Hello!
I personally have a load of table top gaming items and to be completely honest I want to find a space that I could turn into workshop or "art" studio of sorts
Living in inland empire, I found plenty of retail listings but due to zoning laws and such that just won't do.
Does anyone know of were I can find a spot for my hobby ?
And if your curious on how I can afford it, it's multiple people getting in on it , so a decent sized space is needed.
Anyway, any help or advice is appreciated
Thanks
Antonio

as RiTides mentioned, a group of friends and I rented office space when I lived in Cleveland. Here are a few pointers:
- go off the beaten path. You don't need or even want to be visible from a street. This drives the price way down.
-Look at older buildings. Office space is traditionally divided into "classes," look at the Class C stuff. You're not trying to impress clients, you're trying to play games.
- Prepare to spend time calling around. You need space at a low cost, and pretty much everything else is negotiable. Try to find the most idiosyncratic space.
-Have an agreement with anybody going in, but be prepared to cover the lease yourself if need be. You will be amazed how many people you know love the idea of a private gaming space, but can't cough up even $50 a month to make it happen.
- Make sure you have a lease. Some distressed properties will let you go month to month, or even almost squat. This is cheap, but you can end up with very little notice to vacate.
- Make sure your SO is on board. My fiance (now wife) loved it because it got 98% of my gaming stuff out of our apartment.

Our group took advantage of a situation somewhat unique to us, which was a half empty, older office buildng in a pretty decent suburb. We were able to rent 450 square feet, with 24 hour access, for $475 a month. It wasn't that much mroe than a storage unit at that point.

Exalted! Great info.