139 [S2E42]: Pat East and John Fernandez on Bloomington's Trades District

The city's efforts to cultivate entrepreneurship is embodied in the buildings that were auxiliary to the Showers Brothers Furniture Factory, a third of which famously became Bloomington's city hall in the mid-90s, and another third of which was acquired from IU by the county and is now the Monroe County Government Center. Several smaller brick buildings have been preserved and remade into workplaces for 21st-century new businesses, which more often than not are information technology-related. That area, dubbed The Trades District by the city, lies between 10th and 11th, Rogers and Morton Streets. The Dimension Mill,  with the same sawtooth roofline, is now a cowork space and the state's biggest tech incubator. We talk today with Pat East, executive director of The Mill, as well as senior vice president John Fernandez, who also happens to be a former two-term mayor of Bloomington. (We'll invite him back sometime to talk about his administration, which was the first to occupy the new Showers Building City Hall in 1996.) The Mill was the first of several buildings to be renovated or built in the Trades District, now runs the District on behalf of the city. We'll talk about the Kiln, the Showers Administration Building, the Forge, which is being built right now across from the Mill, and what's planned for the rest of the Trades District.Support the showA production of Plateia Media ©2024-5. All rights reserved.