Tampa must be an exception. They’ve quadrupled the size of their space in the past few years, expanding into every adjacent unit in the building. It’s probably about 10,000 ft^2 now and still only $50/mo. Obviously rent is cheaper here.
Taking a quick look at Tampa, at least one thing I'm noticing that I don't see in others, is that there's a significant focus on the FIRST competition, which gives the maker space a continued source of involvement and recruits every year.
Similar competitions (solar car, concrete canoe, pinewood derby, hackathons, yearly DEFCON attendance, 4-H robotics, Zero robotics, INTEL/GOOGLE/Microsoft/ThermoFischer science fairs, math olympiads, science olympiads) might be reasonable draws for other maker shops.
