Years of planning and vision will culminate in January 2021 opening – and that’s when @theSquare begins to come into its own.
@theSquare, created by Forward Cody, has spent the last few months transforming the space in the lobby of the Bank of the West building (1130 Sheridan Avenue) into a new coworking space for aspiring and active business owners. The community coworking space is designed to be whatever Cody’s professionals want and need it to be – logistically and philosophically.
The coworking space, furnished with elegant desks, chairs, and tables purchased from the defunct Cody Labs, is divided into sections based on the kind of work members need to accomplish. Everything from individual working stations to a coworking collaboration area and a small lounge for networking.
Corrine Hutchins, office manager for Forward Cody, says the vision of her and Forward Cody C.E.O James Klessens was to design a space to meet the needs of Cody’s workers and entrepreneurs. Their goal is to have an evolving workspace driven by the community.
“That’s what we really hope – that it gets a life of its own,” Hutchins says. “Everything that we do with it is because the members have guided us. This where they would feel most comfortable being, doing, hanging out, bringing friends. That’s the life we hope it takes on – that it truly is member-driven.”
Members will be the core of @theSquare. For $100 a month, members will have business-hour access to the coworking space with high-speed internet access. They will also be able to use @theSquare as their business address and have their business’s mail delivered there.
When it opens next month, @theSquare will have many amenities available to its members. They will be able to use the Critique Room – a separate space with an LCD projector for presentations and feedback from peers – and the Zoom Room specifically designed for Zoom meetings with a high-speed internet hookup donated by TCT West.
Members will also have access to in-person business training on specific topics from business plans to legal questions. The topics of these sessions will be member-driven, based on what they want to learn about businesses and entrepreneurship.
Future plans for @theSquare include:
- Extended hours for members (6.a.m. to midnight)
- An on-site conference room available for meetings of up to 18 people
- A gallery space for local artists to display their work
- The Elk Plaza @theSquare – an outdoor gathering space with a patio for community use
It’s especially appropriate that such an endeavor should open in the Irma Square, adjacent to the Irma Hotel – itself an innovative move of entrepreneurship in Cody’s history.
As always, Forward Cody applauds its members who have made @theSquare and all Forward Cody’s work possible. They send a special thanks to Mike and Scott Darby, who own the Bank of the West building on the Irma Square and contributed several improvements to the interior to make @theSquare the ideal coworking environment – including walls to partition the space off from the bank lobby and add additional noise control.
@theSquare will start the first chapter of its yet-to-be-written story in January 2021. To stay up to date with the latest news and developments, like and follow @theSquare and Forward Cody on Facebook.
