I actually just added the editor to my gridview, set the visible property to false, and then in my code behind, set visible to true when the link is clicked to activate the editor. everything is loading up faster and this solution will work for me.

 

here's an abridged snippet from the code behind so you can get the idea for anyone interested in doing something like this: 

      LinkButton btnUpdate = (LinkButton)sender;
      GridViewRow row1 = (GridViewRow)btnUpdate.NamingContainer;
      

       Editor editCtrl = (Editor)row1.FindControl(editType + controlType); 

//edit type and control type are dynamic text based on the text of the linkbutton sent in - i derive it from the btnUpdate.text
       editCtrl.Visible = true;

 

thanks