Creative Arlington "Co-Working Group" to Follow Through on Co-Working

On December 10, 2009, Creative Arlington hosted its latest meeting, a gathering of entrepreneurs and others at the headquarters of Arlington Economic Development. Almost 30 people braved bitter cold to listen to Tara Miles from AED describe co-working opportunities and participate in brainstorming. This brief post reports on the night's highlights, including data from the flip charts generated at the meeting.

The group created a Creative Arlington Co-working Group to spearhead the organization's efforts to foster co-working in Arlington. Brad McKay agreed to work with Gil Wilson, Laura Rossi, and others to head up the Co-Working Group.

Tara Miles, who heads AED’s Bizlaunch program, is all about entrepreneurship. It showed: she provided a list of criteria for entrepreneurs thinking about whether to found or join a co-working location. She also noted a number of business incubators in the region. (I will get a copy of Tara’s PowerPoint presentation and link it to this story.)

Creative Arlington aims to design projects that work for our members and the community. With that in mind, the crowd broke into two large brainstorming groups to work on issues that could be taken up by the CA Co-Working Group. The brainstorming focused on (1) the criteria that Creative Arlington should use if it spearheads an effort to create a co-working space; (2) potential price-points for members; and (3) questions that require answers.

Criteria. Group members included the following wish list under criteria: (a) conference room space; (b) Metro-accessibility; (c) back-office support (tech support and receptionist/office manager); (d) creating a sense of community for the clientele (happy hours, parties, breakfasts, and other things that would foster camaraderie); (e) shared calendar; (f) flexible hours of operation; (g) explore possibilities of connection with AED, Cultural Center, and local universities; (h) quiet space offices (like Amtrak quiet cars); (i) hours of operation (more is better).

Price Points. Everyone emphasized that low-cost was preferable to higher cost, which would be consistent with a county connected space, a non-profit, or a coop. Additionally, the groups mentioned the following: (a) a low initial entry fee, in order to attract contractors and entrepreneurs who often work in places like Starbucks; (b) differing levels of membership entitling different levels of usage; (c) special price points for weekends and non-traditional office hours (i.e., late nights); and (d) availability of “à la carte” items (e.g., conference rooms for those who work out of their houses but need a place to meet).

Questions. The groups raised the following questions for the Co-Working Group to research and answer:
- Where are the current incubators, executive suites, and co-working spaces in Northern Virginia, and especially Arlington?
- Are there ways to find businesses that have open office space now, during the recession, that could be rented by entrepreneurs in the short term?
- What is the cost per square foot along the Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor, and how does that compare to other areas that are not as Metro accessible?
- How much is the County willing to participate in creating a co-working space?
- What would a thorough cost-benefit analysis conclude about whether Creative Arlington should expend resources (money, time, lobbying) to create a co-working space?
- Is there a way to create a co-working space that provides not only smaller entrepreneurs’ offices, but also larger studio-style spaces for artists?
- Who should own the co-working space, manage it, and find it?

So, huge thanks to Brad McKay and Heather Schaefer for organizing the event, to Tara Miles and AED for hosting -- and a special thanks to Hello CupCake for the delicious cupcake treats.