A
new generation of office working has come to Bellingham.
Promoting
community and business networking, Northwest Living Workspace, also known as
The Workspace, is a new business that is being set up on the corner of Potter
and Ellis streets by co-owners Mimi Osterdahl and John Eggers.
The
business is a “co-workspace, which is an office for freelance artists, web
designers, anybody consulting,” Eggers said. “Those kinds of people who might
be working from their home office or might be looking for some synergy in the
community with other business owners or other freelancers, or even just to have
a place that is kind of a professional office that they could use once or twice
a week to meet clients or use the business center.”
The
idea arose in October of 2012 when Eggers and Osterdahl were looking into
starting a real estate brokerage, but decided they were not ready for that
venture and instead found the Bellingham Hearing Center for sale, Eggers said.
The
Workspace was inspired by a string of other co-workspaces throughout California
under the name of Next Space, Eggers said.
People
are able to work from anywhere now because of the technologies available to us
said Osterdahl. “People still need collaboration and all of those things you
get from an office environment, but where do you go for that?”
Coffee
shops provide places to meet with clients, but usually they are busy and do not
enhance the kind of environment productivity needs to flourish. This space will
be “more focused on business and not on coffee,” Eggers said.
As
well as providing a space for people to work, Osterdahl said she hopes to
provide a safer environment for emerging small businesses. “What we hope to do
is have small businesses launch out of here, plant themselves in the
community and grow.”
The
space will provide many different kinds of areas for use in different
situations according to Osterdahl. These areas include general “flex areas” that can be
manipulated to the needs of the people using the space to work in groups or
separately, a business center, phone booths, conference rooms, a micro-gym and
even a café. The café have a walk up window to service the neighborhood, as
well as the co-workers inside.
Membership
will be based upon daily or monthly fees, but rates have not been released yet.
Members will also benefit from business building type workshops, Wi-Fi and
Skype capabilities and can use the space as a business address with a mail
slot, Osterdahl said.
The
ability to connect with other people and expand relationships that can help to
grow businesses is a large goal of the space, Eggers said. There is also an
idea for a visa program between workspaces in different areas that would allow
for members of other co-workspaces to come in and utilize the space while on
business trips. The idea would help to create a more connected system of
co-working, he said.
The
Workspace will help to co-sponsor the TEDx Here
By Choice event on Nov. 12 and will open for public use on Jan. 1.
