Michael Redd and John Weaver searched nearly 100 Central Ohio offices for their investment firm and incubation space where entrepreneurs could learn from each other, and found it in an 1800s schoolhouse.
TwentyTwo has moved into the second-floor former principal's office in Olde Gahanna Schoolhouse, 106 N. Short St., a three-story brick building that also served as a nursing home before architect George Parker converted it to offices in the late 1970s.
"We loved the spot; we loved the energy of the neighborhood," said Weaver, CEO of TwentyTwo, the DBA of 22 Ventures LLC, which the two founded in late 2019.
"It's a place where entrepreneurs can feel safe and be mentored and helped," said Redd, the firm's chairman.
Check the slideshow below for a look at the Olde Gahanna Schoolhouse renovations so far.
TwentyTwo Olde Gahanna Schoolhouse
They want to recreate the energy and community of Wave Innovation Center, the coworking space Redd started three years ago in Italian Village. That lease wasn't sustainable long term, Weaver said.
Wave moved to Whitehall in 2019 before closing due to the pandemic. Redd bought the Gahanna building this spring.
Redd has invested in and advised tech startups since retiring from the NBA in 2013, and remains a venture partner for ADvantage Sports Tech Fund and a mentor with Snapchat's Yellow business accelerator.
"Either we can help you, or I know someone in our network who can help you," Redd said.
TwentyTwo is named for his jersey number, from Westmoor Middle and West High schools in the Hilltop, to Ohio State University, to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Rather than raising a traditional VC fund, the firm relies on Redd and a network of unnamed wealthy investors who can back a diverse group of entrepreneurs. In essence, they serve as the "friends and family" round for founders who don't have backing from generational wealth.
"We have to be conscious about the diversity we create," Weaver said.
Redd, who is Black, sees the mission as bringing equity into capitalism, generating healthy returns without betting on a huge proportion of the portfolio to fail.
"Sometimes it helps to have people who look like you to empathize," Redd said. "I call it 'cultural interpreters.'"
A historic, exposed brick building in a walkable, vibrant neighborhood like downtown Gahanna was "an ideal fit," said John Mally of NAI Ohio Equities, who represented TwentyTwo in the search during a tough market for buyers.
"It allows them the opportunity to bring different businesses and different areas of expertise into the building as tenants, as time goes on," he said.
The partners have renovated the main second-floor suite and common areas in the 8,100-square-foot building. There's also an unfinished open space on the third floor, not counted in the square footage, that eventually could become conference space, Weaver said. So far one office has opened up on the first floor, he said, but the partners won't push out longtime tenants, mainly one-person offices.
"When you go up to the attic, it looks right over Creekside," Mally said. "I definitely enjoy the process of adaptive re-use. There's a lot of demand for smaller spaces like this."
