As Greensboro’s newest co-working space begins to take shape and line up members, it will be leaning on a new partner that’s been there before.
The new project at 111 W. Lewis St. being developed by Andy Zimmerman will be collaborating with HQ Raleigh, a similar — and successful — space that opened in Raleigh’s downtown Warehouse District in spring 2012.
The partnership gives the Lewis Street building a new name — HQ Greensboro — and guidance as it develops into a 10,000-square-foot co-working space designed to accommodate a range of entrepreneurs, from individuals looking for a desk and community to small start-ups interested in an office integrated into a collaborative environment.
Zimmerman, whose firm AZ Development has been investing heavily in Greensboro’s core city recently, said his first visit to HQ Raleigh as he was fleshing out plans for how to use the Lewis Street space was key.
“As soon as I walked through the door, I felt a vibe,” Zimmerman said. “It was a collaborative, open-door and cool environment. … When I left Raleigh, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the Lewis Street building.”
HQ Raleigh is located in a historic building that was renovated by a group of partners with the idea of creating a space to foster collaboration and the development of business leaders interested both in success, and giving back, said one of those partners, Christopher Gergen.
Gergen, along with his involvement in HQ Raleigh, is the innovator-in-residence at the Center for Creative Leadership, and launched Bull City Forward, Queen City Forward and Moore Forward — organizations designed to develop leadership within the nonprofit world.
Gergen said the model that HQ Raleigh is built on, and which HQ Greensboro will be fashioned after, has three main components — attracting companies interested in contributing to the community, creating a space to foster collaboration and providing programming that build connections between members.
It’s a model that he believes will thrive in Greensboro.
“I think Greensboro is at this really interesting inflection point with regards to the entrepreneurial community,” Gergen said. “I feel like there’s some really good critical mass and confluence of energy that’s happening right now that portends well for the future.”
Part of that activity is occurring next door to what will be HQ Greensboro in The Forge, a makerspace also developed by Zimmerman that provides access for members to a range of tools, equipment and machines, including a 3D printer.
Other co-working spaces are coming online in downtown Greensboro, such as Co//ab, a project of Action Greensboro, and elsewhere in the Triad, including Flywheel, a co-working space in 525@vine in Wake Forest Innovation Quarter in downtown Winston-Salem.
With HQ Greensboro, Zimmerman’s AZ Development is funding the $1 million renovation of the building, which was built in 1898 and at one time served as a stables.
The relatively open environment will also include 21 office suites, community conference rooms, co-working spaces with desks, collaborative “soft spaces” with sofas, chairs and tables, and two outside patios.
Zimmerman has formed a management team for HQ Greensboro made up of April Harris, formerly with Action Greensboro, entrepreneur Ryan Barry and web designer Ken Causey.
Zimmerman and the team will be working with HQ Raleigh leading up to the May 1 opening of the Greensboro space to plan the layout as the office is developed, help structure the membership and create the organizational infrastructure needed to run the space.
HQ Raleigh moved into its current space in March and was at capacity with 70 companies one week after opening.
“Because we really believe in what Andy is trying to do, we are going to be providing quite a bit of consultative support,” Gergen said. “We’ve learned a lot over the last two-and-a-half years of running a successful entrepreneurial space. We know the nuts and bolts of what it takes to get it done.”
After opening, HQ Raleigh will continue to assist with marketing and programming for the space.
Details of memberships and leases haven’t been released. If HQ Raleigh is any guide, memberships can run from $125 monthly for 25 hours of access a month with no reserved space to $1,400 monthly for a large suite accommodating up to six people.
“They have a successful template, and that template includes a flavor and a way of doing business to foster entrepreneurship,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman and Harris also point to the advantage of having The Forge next door, with the idea that an entrepreneurial idea developed in HQ Greensboro can then move to The Forge to create a prototype.
“In the short period of time The Forge has been open, we’ve seen a lot of ideas come from people,” Zimmerman said. “I thought it was more of a hobbyist space. It’s turned out to be more of a businesspeople’s space.”
As for who will fill out the space at HQ Greensboro, Zimmerman said there’s a central idea that will determine that — collaboration.
“I think the only idea is that you need to be open to collaboration,” he said. “Otherwise, rent another vanilla space in town because there’s plenty of it.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/news/2014/12/02/new-downtown-greensboro-co-working-space-finds.html?page=all
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