FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield CoLab has moved into a new location on North Court Street, just a block away from its former location on the south side of the Fairfield square.

That new location is the building formerly occupied by Iowa State Bank, which moved nearly all of its employees into its new building on West Burlington Avenue, leaving behind a large lobby area and numerous offices that turned out to be perfect for a coworking space.

The Fairfield CoLab opened in 2015 on the second floor of the building that sits on the southeast corner of West Burlington Avenue and South Main Street. After seven years in that spot, the CoLab’s board decided it was time for a change.

Eric Johnson, who has been the board president for the last two years, said the CoLab was hit hard by the pandemic because remote workers decided to stay home instead of mingling in a coworking space. The board saw that the CoLab needed to be more visible to the public. As the pandemic was dying down, the board began looking into other office spaces, especially where they could be on the first floor.

Johnson said the CoLab’s founders had been keeping an eye on Iowa State Bank’s building for a few years, but they were not in a position to buy the building until 2022. By October of that year, members of the CoLab had begun working in the former bank building. The CoLab now owns the building, and rents space to Grow Fairfield and to Iowa State Bank, since David Eastburn has maintained his office there.

The CoLab has about 30 members, who pay a monthly fee to use the building. Some pay for their own desk, and others have their own private office, of which there are about 13 or 14. The building has a conference room that members can rent, too. Johnson said the CoLab plans to add more private offices because they are so popular that there is a waiting list for them.

“What I like to say about CoLab is that we want people to graduate from it, to outgrow us,” Johnson said. “We like to see people join us at the basic membership, and as their entrepreneurial project grows, maybe they need an office and they start to have employees. We have several private office members who have employees in there with them, and eventually they need to buy their own building. That’s our ideal success story.”

Johnson said the CoLab’s members are a mixture of freelancers and remote workers who would rather work in an office instead of their home. Johnson said a number of remote workers feel they can concentrate better in an office setting where they have fewer distractions. He said members also feel better about meeting clients in a more professional setting.

When the CoLab moved into its new location, it received many donations of furniture from companies such as Hawthorne Direct, Cambridge Investment Research and Iowa State Bank. The CoLab has a kitchen where members can enjoy a cup of coffee, relax on a couch or play a game of foosball.

The CoLab hosted its grand reopening on March 29, and it is hosting special events all the time, sometimes multiple events per week. It has hosted some events for Fairfield First Fridays Art Walk, too. One of its recurring events is called “Home Grown,” which it does in conjunction with Southeast Iowa Venture Club, a partnership covering Washington, Henry, Jefferson and Van Buren counties. Johnson said that he’s excited to host even more events, and include students from the local middle school and high schools to attend, as well as Maharishi International University and Indian Hills Community College.