By JOSH COTTON jcotton@timesobserver.com

“There’s all kinds of opportunities to grow.”

That was part of the message Congressman Glenn Thompson brought to a reception at the Innovault Coworking space on Liberty St. Monday afternoon. He was in town meeting with community business leaders.

Ben Kafferlin highlighted a $100,000 USDA grant that Thompson assisted in securing as key to finishing the space on the first floor of the PNC Building.

Thompson called it “giving new life to a building with great bones.

In addition to the co-working space and a PNC office, the Northern Pennsylvania Regional College houses its headquarters in the century-old building.

Thompson credited the local leadership that undertook the project for the “vision” for a project to be a “force for good.

“Congratulations on making that a reality,” he said. “The vision, opportunities, (you) are just scratching the surface. This is exciting.”

Kafferlin said the USDA grant funding enabled bathroom and HVAC work for the space and questioned whether the project would have come together without it.

Thompson called it a “perfect project for the USDA” and said he’s largely happy for what has been accomplished working with the USDA.

“(I’m) looking forward to see this project prosper,” he added. “There’s all kinds of opportunities to grow.”

The co-working space is currently open a couple days a week. “We have our first paying customers,” Kafferlin said, noting that it would take several full-time members to expand hours.

An article from the Harvard Business Review describes coworking this way: “membership-based workspaces where diverse groups of freelancers, remote workers, and other independent professionals work together in a shared, communal setting.”