coworking@BOB bringing coworking back to Vancouver's inner-city

[Muskie]

Hello my name is Andrew "Muskie" McKay and I work for Building
Opportunities with Business (BOB) Vancouver's local economic
development agency working to revitalize the historic inner-city.
After a lot of thought and work we hope to offer coworking space for
$200 per month at 163 East Pender, starting in late November.

Below is the text of the vision/backgrounder I prepared, we are still
finalizing everything but the price is about as low as we can go and
hope to break even with a reasonable number of associates:

Building Opportunities with Business (BOB) is working on “an inclusive
revitalization process for the inner-city that values existing
businesses and residents. BOB is a connector, a resource and a
facilitator”.

Concept: Shared Use of our Main Floor
To further our mission we would like to make available to select
partners, individuals, and businesses the main floor of 163 East
Pender Street. We hope that this open shared work space can
contribute to the revitalization of the inner-city by providing a
space for creative professionals to flourish, for ideas to peculate,
to cross pollinate, for businesses to grow, a place where stuff gets
done.

What we’re offering is a work surface, be it a desk, a chair, a table,
a couch, or the bay window, wherever you’re most comfortable. Of
course we’ll offer wi-fi and other niceties such as an electronic
white board and a projector to facilitate discussion and creative
thinking. There’s a fridge for your food, a microwave, filtered water
cooler, and secure storage for your bike. The room will be decorated
with ever changing art from inner-city artists and galleries plus
historic Chinatown is just outside the door to provide inspiration.

Target Audience
We’re looking for creative professionals, progressive thinkers, the
socially responsible and ecologically conscious who want to be
surrounded by others of like mind. Folks who want more than a cubicle
and a 9 to 5 and dream of bigger things and a better Vancouver to call
home. People who want to support BOB, to see our vision become a
reality.

Shared Work Environment
BOB will offer our partners a clean, safe, productive, professional
environment in the heart of Chinatown, filled with kindred spirits,
and empower them to make an impact.

For Individuals
Individuals, known as associates, will have their own electronic fob
to come and go as they please Monday to Friday. BOB staff will make
the space available and provide support between 9 and 5. The coworking
hours are 9 AM until at least 8 PM on weekdays, subject to the
availability of an approved caretaker and not withstanding any
exclusive event bookings. Our intention is to provide at least eight
consecutive hours of access daily. After 5pm a caretaker will be on
hand to ensure a professional and productive environment is maintained
and the shared workspace is secured fully at the end of the day. 24
hour access and regular weekend hours are not being offered at this
time.

For Organizations
163 East Pender is also a space to hold gatherings, meetings of ten to
twenty can take place around the central table, and larger gatherings
of over a hundred have also been successful. Inquire at
eve...@bobics.org to reserve the main floor for your next AGM or
networking event.

BOB needs to use the main floor from time to time for our business
development seminars, employer breakfasts, and job fairs. Best
efforts will be made to schedule these events between 8am-12pm
Tuesdays and Thursdays allowing the space to be used Monday, Wednesday
and Friday mornings by others. Weekend and evening events are also
possible and will be examined on a case by case basis.

Value Added Services
BOB provides to the inner-city community a slate of services for
employees, employers, and job seekers. Services that may be of
interest to Associates include:
• Industry Clusters: BOB has been fostering the growth of five
industry clusters including: The Creative Industries Clusters serving
the design and artistic community, Green Inner-city Cluster for
ecologically progressive organizations, and the ICT Cluster for
businesses and individuals in Information and Communication
Technology.
• Loan Program: BOB provides affordable loan capital to existing inner-
city businesses, social enterprises, and individuals wishing to start
a business in the neighbourhood.
• Social Purchasing: BOB is a long advocate of social purchasing and
maintains an online directory of progressive inner-city businesses
that we actively promote. We regularly participate in and
occasionally host events promoting these businesses.
• Expansion & Startup Advice: is available for individuals and
businesses alike who wish to expand and grow their firm locally. We
work with a network of property owners and real estate professionals
and will happily refer you on to your own private office space when
the time is right.
Proposed Pricing

Associate Corporate Non-Profit
Monthly Shared Space Access $200 N/A N/A
Morning Event M-W-F $200 $300
$200
Evening Event To be
negotiated
Weekend Event To be
negotiated

[Muskie]

So yeah we're officially looking for some partners/tenants/associates
so if your looking for coworking space in Vancouver or know someone
who might be send them my way. We're trying to keep it cheap and
simple, we'll be open by the end of the month.

http://www.buildingopportunities.org/businessdevelopment/

Cheers,

[Muskie]

We're open but still recruiting heavily, we have the holidays and the
Olympics so March will be the real judge of our success, hopefully we
will be cashflow positive by then. We've continued to invest in the
space and consult with potential coworkers on what they'd like to see
to make the deal more of a no-brainer. I got some lockers off of
craigslist and we're getting in a general contractor to fix some lose
ends. We've also applied for a government grant to improve our
accessiability for people in wheel chairs.

We've gotten pretty good support from Vancouver's blogger commmunity,
it didn't hurt I recruited one of the more popular bloggers to be our
caretaker/site animator. She also helped get us into the Vancouver
Sun which is the city's largest paper. I thought some folks on here
might be interested in that, I'll probably update blog.coworking.info
but that'll take a little more time, I have to meet the contractor in
15 minutes.

http://www.vancouversun.com/shared+workspace+opens+Vancouver+inner+city/2366408/story.html