Blog - Launching A Coworking Space

Let's Do This!

We’re almost there.

Tonight, Thursday September 25th at 6pm, we’ll gather in the above space and discuss the remaining steps toward opening New Work City!

Come join us and show your support!

RSVP at Meetup

RSVP on Facebook

RSVP at Gary’s Guide

We’ll be grabbing dinner afterward, if you’re up for joining.

Spread the word! Good things are coming!

Desks and Chairs

We’re doing some research on desks and chairs. We want to strike the right balance of price, comfort, size, simplicity, and style.

Naturally, we’re looking at Ikea :-)

I think we know what we want for desks, but check out some notes below on chairs:

Chairs

• Janne basic black swivel chair, no arms ($35): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00122902
• Snille plastic swivel chair, multiple colors ($25): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S39842528 (I believe this is the style Indy Hall has, but Indy Hall’s chairs dont’ have wheels)
• Moses leather swivel chair, with arms ($39): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20086724
• Leather swivel chair, arms (Wal-Mart) ($49): http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6560497

I’m leaning towards the Snile myself.

We may have to take a field trip to Ikea in the near future to test these out :-)

Router-Based Membership/Login System

We’ve been thinking about how best to set up the membership system so that it’s a simple and lightweight as possible.

If you’ve gotten online in Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, or Gramstand, for example, you’ve used NYCWireless’s system, which is based on Wifidog.

This works nicely, because anyone can connect and then either login or set up an account. If we got a similar setup running within New Work City, new drop-ins could show up, connect, and buy a day pass online, making the process straightforward and simple.

Wifidog, however, looks like it may be a little out of my league in terms of technical aptitude. (I’m sure I could figure it out, but likely only after bricking a few routers :-))So I’m wondering: do you think there’s a simpler way to implement this solution? Or do you think you might be able to help us get this system set up using Wifidog?

Let us know what we should be looking at and what your thoughts are on the membership system!

-Tony

151 W 25th Street - Awesome.

Feast your eyes upon this beauty! 3,650 square feet of recently renovated space for us to fill, and at a great price at that!

151 W 25th St is between 6th and 7th Avenues. It’s a stone’s throw from Whole Foods (!) and a straight shot into Madison Square Park and Shake Shack only a couple of blocks away!

2 blocks from 23rd St 1, 2, F,V, and PATH trains
3 blocks from 23rd St RW and ACE trains
7 blocks from 28th St 4 & 6 trains and Penn Station

This sucker is central!

Olaf, whose company is our potential anchor tenant, also loves the space. We’re going to be discussing more serious business details this week and next to see if we can come to terms we all like.

Now, don’t get your hopes up too high yet— we’ve been here before. There’s no deal until ink is on paper.

We’ll keep you posted!

200 Varick, Revisited

Since we last visited, the space has been built out a little more— new lights, seen here, a new, bluer paint job, printer, fax, new windows and door for the conference room.

The space would have room for about 15 desks, which would be cozy but on the small side.

Check out more photos of the 200 Varick space here.

200 Varick Street

I can’t seem to find my photos of this space, so another trip down there might be in order.

The space has room for about 15 desks that we’d be able to use, and already has a paint job that’s complimentary to NWC’s current color scheme.

Upsides:

- Flexible arrangement: would be able to partner with Squarespace

- Quick move-in: Space is largely set up and would require little buildout

Downsides:

- Relatively small: 15 desks would go rather fast!

- Location: you be the judge. Location is critical. Check the map… do you think this space is close enough to the various subway lines that location is not an issue? Sound off in the comments!

594 Broadway: beautiful, but expensive

This space is wonderful:

By my measurements, it could fit approximately 30 desks, and would make for a fantastic coworking space. The problem? Too rich for our blood.

In order to break even, NWC would need to be nearly full all the time— with only a little wiggle room. We’ll keep an eye out for a possible deal.

In the meantime, check out the photos and dream with us!