[TheThinkTank] Start-up question.

[Andrew Bushaw]

Hello,
I'm currently working in a collective to start a community bike shop  
in Fargo, ND. So far so good, we have a fiscal agent that is very well  
respected in the community and is very hands off. We have many  
interested volunteers, an agreement with our favorite LBS to get their  
old tools and quite possibly their used bike inventory. We have quite  
a bit of community support and really feel like we can make this work.  
However, we have had difficulty procuring space. We as a city are  
currently going through a period of "downtown revitalization" which is  
gentrifying many possible locations. Downtown is strategically located  
between two cities and three college campuses, so we would really like  
to make that our home. Does anyone have any experience partnering with  
other organizations? Does anyone have any good ways to talk to  
property owners who are holding out to develop into office or condo  
space? What are the incentives to rent/donate space to us? Also, we  
are beginning our grant writing and are wondering if anyone has an  
approximation as to how much we can reasonably write for, who are  
friendly foundations, ect. Is there any shop that is funded in some  
way other than through grants? Thanks, Andrew