Lets build a Co-Working space in St Pete
Edit: A few people have pointed out on Twitter that there are already co-working spaces in Tampa with WaVe here, and ideafield. I have edited my title and shifted my thinking to Downtown St. Pete specifically.
Lets Co-Work Tampa bay
I have always been a huge fan of co-working. I love the environment, the fast internet, and most importantly working with like minded creatives. In case you havent heard of co-working before, its a physical space with desk space, bandwidth, coffee and snacks. Its much more than a physical space though; its about sharing ideas, giving referrals, networking and making friendships. Its also a great place to hang out and throw events, or have the occasional beer night.
Tampa bay Tech needs this
When I moved to Tampa for college, right around the time my career as a developer started to take off. Universities are generally regarded as institutions were like minded individuals can get together and discuss the things that interest them academically. Unfortunately for me, it was tough to find people who wanted to discuss javascript minification, or debate ruby vs. python with me. Tampa’s tech community is on the way up. The fine folks over at Tampa Bay WaVE put on some great tech events on a consistant basis. We have Front-end Conference put on by the awesome Dan Denney. Tampa bay also has a great deal of tech talent spread out over St. Pete, Tampa Bay, and Clearwater. But unix neckbeards and design nerds need a place to come together, to talk about whats trending on dribbble or why Ubuntu is better than centOS. Tampa is a growing tech hub, but in order to take the next step, a common space for collaboration is necessary. These are the exact type of facilities that tech hubs such as San Fransisco, Boston, and New York all benefit from.
Coffee shops just dont cut it
Co-working space isnt just for designers and developers, its for all types of creatives. Writers, artists, photographers, and other creatives to come together and work in a positive, beneficial environment. Coffee shops are great for an occasional change of pace, but they dont really provide a professional workspace. Their wifi is often unsecured, slow or unreliable. You dont have a full desk, access to a permanent mailing address, printing/faxing services, snacks and coffee, and a free flowing space for ideas to grow in.
Money where my mouth is
The purpose of this blog post was two fold; to raise awareness on the importance of co-working, and to get the word out that I am looking for a location to start a co-working space. I truly believe if you want to create change it needs to be done without any shortcuts or miracles. That is why I want to put my money where my mouth is. I am currently searching for co-working space in downtown St. Pete and/or downtown Tampa. If you have any recommendations or have some spaces in mind, tweet me or leave a comment below!
Gainesville and Jacksonville both have co-working spaces. No reason a much larger market should do without.
Where is gainesville co-working space? I know Jacksonville launched http://coworkjax.com/
Maybe I’d move there if one came about
Well thats reason enough to open a space =)
I’ve thought about this a lot and I used to go to Ideafield on occasion, when it was running in Tampa and Ybor. I know a few other folks that have been looking into running them too. WaVE has one operating in downtown Tampa, fueled by Kickstarter. There’s another group looking to seek venture capital in order to start one. I also know a couple of peeps that have been looking into downtown St. Pete.
Unfortunately, the model for them is pretty tough. I’ve been thinking that it might be necessary to have some other form of revenue for one, or to just consider it as a monthly expense for a few people.
That could be a collective amount of rent, say 4 people divide up the monthly expenses and then offer open desks for monthly rental to make up funds.
Another thought is a combo of the coffee shop model. What if there was a coffee shop that encouraged actual co-working instead of covering plugs to reduce time? So, a cafe/coffee shop storefront with a co-working office space adjoining. Revenues from the items could be used to keep the space open. Maybe permanent desks could be arranged as well.
Just thoughts, nothing that I’ve poured heavy consideration into.
Thanks for taking the time to type this out Dan, its great fuel for thought. I agree that finding a revenue model is difficult, but there are a few ways you can go about it. The combo coffee shop model is what Im trying to stay away from. Ideally, I would want this to be a creative space dedicated solely to working. As is typical with a web project, I would want to focus on my minimal viable product, and not have to worry about the headaches associated with running a coffee shop.
One thought I had was approaching the city/or USF st pete for a joint, subsidized partnership on something like this. I know their is a great deal of web designers in st pete, but the city is also full of writers, photographers, and other artists.
I think the shared office model Dan suggested will work great. I’m concerned about the density issue with a pure coworking space in this area. But if 3 or 4 small to medium sized web startups got together and split rent on a space that exceeded their combined needs, you could do a lot of cool things with the excess space like coworking, holding events, etc.. I’d be interested as one of the anchor tenants if anyone else wants to discuss this some more.
The Hillsborough County libraries have rooms of various sizes that can be used. Most libraries now include some sort of vending and/or coffee machines. The wifi is free, but open, and its speed is average. There are 3 locations in south tampa right after the Gandy bridge, the main library in downtown tampa (which has 6 rooms, holding anywhere from 4 – 100 people), and 20+ other locations throughtout the county. Visit hcplc.org or call them at 8132733652
Hey Jason, thanks for the response. The USF St. Pete library also offers quiet rooms and free wifi, and is located on the bay, which provides a really beautiful change of pace from a normal office space.
What I would really like to do is create a physical space with advantages in working with other like minded designers, developers, and artists. I think a co-working space takes all of the best aspects of coffee shops and libraries and combines the advantages of a work-space, such as bright peers and professional amenities (printing/desks/fast wifi).
I help run a space in Downtown Tampa, but it’s more of monthly rental situation. That works better for me since I like having stuff that’s hard to move (namely a large monitor and a nice chair). I used to go to Ideafield as well, but not being able to keep stuff there was a drag.
Stop by sometime if you want to check it out, 715 N Franklin. It’s up the stairs and the door on the right.
Cool, will do. I also see you do some Django work. It would be cool to meet up and talk tech.
As a followup, I don’t mean to try to sway you away from the pure coworking idea. I was throwing ideas out there because we haven’t previously had much buy-in locally. There’s a chance that could change, though, with the activity in the community lately.
I would love to have a real co-working space available and understand the merits of it being truly focused on being a workspace. The best ones around the country are like that.
As you move forward, if there’s anything I can do to help with awareness just let me know.
The coworking situation in Tampa has been one discussed QUITE A BIT during the time I’ve been involved in the community and certainly long before..
As Dan said, buy-in has been difficult, but the community is different now than it has been.
The Wave Space in Downtown Tampa is coming along really nicely and has an organization (Tampa Bay Wave) behind it which has no doubt helped… I have meetings, etc there at least once a week lately…
That is quite a drive for St. Pete people though, so I could see one working in St. Pete. I saw this https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102034198064 ages ago, but I don’t know anything about it, or even who was behind it.. Other than it has been dormant forever..
The combo coffee shop model (as Dan mentioned) is what http://cocreativ.com/ ‘s been trying to make happen for quite a while.
I see a couple key elements being needed (in no particular order):
- Cool space
- Cool people
- Open all the time (key cards)
- Food/ drinks and/or access to food and drinks within easy walking distance
- Cheap/freemium … allow those “cool people” to drop in whenever.. sell them on the idea.. get them in the habit.. charge for the regulars
Good luck!
I’ve definitely been wanting this for a while. I have a few ideas in mind, one of which is a coworking space and “beyond”. I’ve started working with some about designs and funding though it would be a little til I will have a ton of time to make this happen myself. I think this would be fun to talk about at St. Pete’s geek breakfast Sunday!
Toni, great post! As Jessica mentioned above, we are opening an Entrepreneurial Cafe here in Tampa… 5,000sf of open shared workspace, private meeting rooms plus business events and workshops. We are creating a home for Tampa’s Tech community and all the people working out of Starbucks and Panera. Here’s the link to learn more: http://www.CoCreativ.com
P.S. – Brian Delaney mentioned that you and I should connect, if that’s of interest to you.
My best,
Joseph
Toni, thanks for posting a great topic. We just purchased a space for our business in Clearwater off Gulf To Bay and plan on converting the 2000 sq ft of extra space into community coworking space. It doesn’t have the urban trendy feel of Downtown Tampa or St Pete but it’s centrally located in Pinellas and will offer a cool setup complete with all the necessary amenities. We plan on starting work next week and are hoping to throw our launch party sometime in March or April.
Our website should be completed within the next week or so. http://www.TheCoWorkLab.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-CoWork-Lab/272781179446737?sk=info
Toni, love this idea. My family and I are moving to St. Pete end of summer from San Francisco. Has anything advanced on this?
Hi Chris, I just sent you a response via email. Im still actively working toward this, and I have a few spaces lined up.