Print
Email
Print Edition Stories
MHT's Galen Moore: Honoring innovation in New England
Companies born in the recession
Map of New England mapping companies
Check out our list of Greater Boston co-working space at the end of the story. More options for entrepreneurs out there? Let us know below.
For entrepreneurs and their budding companies, finding workspace somewhere between the living room and a leased office often means drinking a lot of lattes at the local Starbucks. More options are popping up, however, in the form of co-working space.
Across from South Station, in a rented space laid out more like a coffee shop than an office — except for the floor-to-ceiling whiteboard — WorkBar Boston is leasing shared desk space and conference rooms to startups and flexible workers, and challenging the notion that an office worker needs 200 square feet to be productive.
To start, $150 a month buys business-hours access. Memberships go up from there, through 24-hour access, and topping out at $400 a month for a dedicated desk.
Of course, the coffee is free.
WorkBar now has about 30 tenants, with room for about 45 more, and property management company Winhall Companies LLC is looking at new locations in Somerville, Cambridge and Boston, which it hopes to open within the year.
WorkBar is a joint venture between Winhall and two entrepreneurs, Bill Jacobson and David Ulrich, who were subleasing office space from a Winhall tenant at 129 South St. When the tenant, known as Dream Realization Media, folded up shop, Jacobson and Ulrich wanted to stay, but couldn’t afford the rent.
They pitched Winhall on their idea for a co-working space.
The Winhall owners, brothers Richard and Kenneth Epstein, bit, and months later they launched WorkBar. “We see a need for the young entrepreneur — people who can’t afford office space, but they’re a step above the coffee shop,” Richard Epstein said.
He’s not the only one.
Across the Charles River, Cambridge Innovation Center owner Timothy Rowe is plotting expansions to the technology incubator’s co-working space, launched last year.
“We’ve kind of seen the light,” Rowe said. “When we build spaces, we build them for 10 years, and we get it right, and we really think this is a model that works long term.”
Meanwhile, software developer John J. Smith launched GeekOffices Inc. last fall. With co-working space up and running in Kendall Square, Smith has agreements on two more locations in Waltham and Framingham.
“The way people work is changing rapidly,” said Jacobson, who is also a co-founder at PickupZone, providing alternate pickup locations at retail stores for e-commerce deliveries.
“It’s more like a gym,” Jacobson said. “You may not show up every day.”
Pia Yasuko Rask was one of WorkBar’s first members, but she doesn’t work for a startup. She has worked for Danish Energy Management, a Denmark-based cleantech consultant to non-governmental agencies and governments in developing nations, for eight years.
After working for two years from home as the firm’s sole Boston employee, she was ready for a change — but traditional shared office space, with a dedicated office, didn’t make sense. “I would go there and sit by myself, anyway,” she said. “People close their doors.” At WorkBar, she gets the energy of an office environment, and has met workers and entrepreneurs in her own field.
Hooman Hodjat, who co-founded PickupZone with Jacobson, said he gets a boost from being around other entrepreneurs. “By nature they’re excited about what they’re doing,” he said. “You feel that around you.”
7 Co-working arrangements in the Boston area
We Can Work It Out
Co-working arrangements in and around Boston
Betahouse
Central Square, Cambridge
Cambridge Innovation Center
1 Broadway, Cambridge
Design Annex
66-70 Union Square, Somerville
GeekOffices Inc.
1035 Cambridge St., Cambridge
Tech SuperPowers Digital Lounge
252 Newbury St., Boston
WorkBar Boston
711 Atlantic Ave., Boston
Did we miss any other unique co-working spaces in Greater Boston or New England? Please let us know. Leave a comment below this story.
Comments
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
RSS Feeds
