Europe’s largest accelerator space for technology businesses innovating in the financial services sector, Level39 has a certain look to it. The incubator and accelerator space is a well designed sophisticated office and social space for small businesses to create, test, market and deliver world-class financial technology products and services. It has that Xfactor to appeal to a certain crowd. It seems to be a common theme with new accelerator spaces being introduced globally. This Business insider article on 16 Beautiful Workspaces For Freelancers gives a nice visual explanation on the trend.
In keepng with that theme, a new coworking space has just opened in Palo Alto. This is the second location for Enerspace – its original 9,000 sq foot space is in Chicago’s West Loop. Enerspace describes itself as the modern workspace for today’s entrepreneurs and mobile professionals. The Palo Alto location at 2225 East Bayshore Road is attracting its share of the area’s high concentration of start-ups, but unlike the area’s many accelerator programs, welcomes a diverse range of professions. Its early members run the gamut of tech start-ups, designers, journalists and business development pros that need a place to keep up their energy.
Enerspace is designed to support a variety of work styles with a mix of offices set up for individuals or small teams, dedicated workstations, and a large café area for drop-in seating and meeting rooms.
To align with its founder, Jamie Russo’s mission of “workspace plus wellness,” the space offers bike storage, standing desks, an atrium for outdoor working or creative thinking, an abundance of natural light, access to running trails, showers, healthy lunch options and partnerships with local health startups. The space is accented in red and orange, the colors of passion and energy.
Enerspace Palo Alto is a unique, ground-breaking joint venture between a coworking space committed to a very modern, urban aesthetic focused on supporting a collaborate community and Pacific Business Centers (PBC), a provider of on-demand office space with 15 locations in California. Coworking growth is driven by a range of cultural shifts including the low cost of starting a tech company, the burgeoning freelancer community, the belt-tightening of corporate real estate managers and the growing participation in the shared economy.
PBC is very engaged in supporting the future of work and thinks that the coworking model growth is only in its infancy.
“We started getting excited about coworking in 2004 when Neil Goldberg opened the Gate-3 Work Club in Emeryville, one of the first incarnations of the coworking concept,” said Laurent Dhollande, CEO of Pacific Business Centers; “We are thrilled to have found with Jamie Russo a terrific partner with whom we can drive this model away from trial-and-error experimentation to building a reliable work community platform for freelancers and start-ups.”
In 2007 there were 75 coworking spaces worldwide. Between 2009 and 2012, the number doubled each year and there are now over 2,700 spaces with 4.5 new locations opening each day.
“Enerspace is very excited to be in Silicon Valley as a resource not only to start-ups but the growing base of employees that get to choose where they get their work done each day. Our mission is to design spaces that help people around the country do their best work,” says Russo.
image credit: Enerspace
Hayden Richards is Contributor of IntelligentHQ. He specialises in finance, trading, investment, and technology, with expertise in both buy-side, sell-side. Contributing and advising various global corporations, Hayden is a thought leader, researching on global regulatory subjects, digital, social media strategies and new trends for Businesses, Capital Markets and Financial Services.
Aside from the articles, interviews and content he writes for IntelligentHQ, Hayden is also a content curator for capital markets, analytic platforms and business industry emerging trends. An avid new media explorer Hayden is driven by a passion for business development, innovation, social business, Tech Trading, payments and eCommerce. A native Trinidadian, Hayden is also a veteran, having served with the Royal Air Force Reserves for the past 10 years.
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