Nearly two years after relocating from its original home in Shaker Heights to a new location in Highland Heights, LaunchHouse is bringing its entrepreneurial coworking community concept to the west side.

Michael DeAloia, the newly-named Lakewood Entrepreneur in Residence, will run the new location out of DeAloia’s Front Porch Media Network’s offices (1406 Westwood Ave., Lakewood) in conjunction with Startup Lakewood.

Eddie Rice, LaunchHouse’s director of communications, says the business has been steadily growing since moving to its new home at 675 Alpha Drive in July 2016. One month ago, the organization expanded from its initial 8,500-square-foot space to take over an additional 5,000 square feet for a total of 13,500 square feet of coworking, private offices, and expanding small business space.

“Things are going really, really well,” says Rice. “We’re completely full, and we’re in a really cool building where we can expand when we’re ready for it. And demand has been high.”

Rice says members have repeatedly asked co-founder and CEO Todd Goldstein to open a west side location, and the timing and partnership with Startup Lakewood and DeAloia just made the decision easy. "Michael knows Todd, and it is a cool, serendipitous relationship,” he says. “When we saw the location, we realized it was great.”

LaunchHouse will open in early May in a 500-square-foot space, which will solely be dedicated to coworking with accommodations for eight to 10 workspaces. “We’re starting out small because it’s better to have smart growth,” Rice says. “It’s a really cool building with a decent amount of space.”

Additionally, Rice says the walkability and density of the surrounding neighborhood will benefit LaunchHouse's networking events. “A lot of what [sets] LaunchHouse apart is the number of events we hold where we go out to restaurants and bars,” he says. “And we like to support the local bars and restaurants.”

Currently, LaunchHouse has 55 members in Highland Heights, and Rice says he expects at least 30 new members. He adds that they are working on new coworking software where memberships can be managed at either location. Right now, they are also seeking a vendor who could set up key card locks that would work at both locations, depending on where a member is working that day.

Rice says there is little work required on the space for LaunchHouse to move in. However, he does say that furniture is coming from Ikea, so they will be having an “office furniture assembly party” prior to the opening.

LaunchHouse, originally known as Goldstein Caldwell & Associates, was started in May 2008 by Goldstein and Dar Caldwell in two small offices above Geraci’s Pizza in University Heights. The idea was to assist idea-stage entrepreneurs in growing their ideas and launching their businesses through a resource network. By June 2011, LaunchHouse opened in Shaker Heights, where they remained until leaving for Highland Heights in July 2016.