An Updated Guide to Co-Working Spaces from CWEnder David Strom

CWEnder David Strom has updated a 2018 post published on this blog regarding co-working spaces in the neighborhood. For those curious about what’s available in the CWE, here is his comprehensive guide:

“Since I wrote a blog post back in 2018, there have been changes in the CWE scene regarding co-working spaces. The pandemic and resulting work-from-home effort has made renting a private office more popular, and a number of the spaces have been expanding. Co-working makes sense when you need temporary space, either for normal working hours or for the occasional meeting. The idea is to combine flexible space with the benefits and camaraderie of the gig economy.

One big change: the B-Hive (at Euclid & Maryland) is no longer around. The total of spaces now stands at five in the CWE, split among three providers:

 

The Spaces offices, shown above is part of a network of hundreds of sites located across the country and around the world. It is located on two floors of the Bank of America branch at 4625 Lindell. It has been open since May 2018 and expanded its private offices availability to match the pandemic-generated demand. The local manager/concierge is Margaret Heath ([email protected], (314) 396-7900). Spaces is probably the most “corporate” of offices, using lots of glass walls and plenty of windows. They also have the most flexible usage plans (and the most fees), which I will get to in a moment.

TechArtista, at 4818 Washington just east of Euclid. Max Rava ([email protected], 314.578.1111) is their Community Manager, Christopher Holt is the co-founder. Holt is a Wash U grad and many of the members are also recent graduates from the school. It is probably the quirkiest of the six buildings, previously having been home to an advertising agency. The space has been divided up into very unusual offices. There is a gym on the top floor, and a deck on the roof. The outfit has expanded with a building in the Grove, Downtown at 401 Pine Street (formerly CovoSTL), and at Lewis Center in UCity.

(Full Disclosure: My husband Jim Dwyer and I are partners in TechArtista’s CWE venture. Nicki.)

CIC @ 4240 Duncan, which is one of three offices operated by the Cambridge Innovation Center. Crystal Owens is the GM for all three operations. ([email protected], 314-285-3595) The website for the three CIC properties has plenty of pictures, and you can schedule a tour of the properties there as well. In 2014, St. Louis became their second location outside of Cambridge MA, and now CIC has offices in many cities around the world, including Rotterdam, Miami and Warsaw. The 4240 building use to host weekly in-person Venture Café gatherings with several hundred attendees and various original programming (note: I have spoken at many of these events) on Thursday nights. (Since the pandemic they have gone virtual.) This building also has satellite offices for Boeing and other firms.

CIC @ 4220 Duncan, which is next door to their original building. Microsoft has moved their offices from CityPlace in the county to occupy this building. This is the newest building of the trio operated by CIC. There is also a gym in this building, which is open to the public, CIC’ers get discounts.

CIC @ CET, which is located down the street from the other two properties at Sarah and Laclede and is the largest of the CWE co-working spaces. CIC has shared wet lab spaces in this building.

That is the current landscape. Here are some things to ponder as you decide which place best suits your needs. 

The first thing you will notice about any of these spots is that their websites are usually mum on pricing details. When I checked in mid-September, I could get a one-person private office ranging from $600 to more than $1000 a month. Expect to pay a similar range depending on the size of your space and how many will inhabit it.

The variation in pricing is a combination of several factors: First, office occupancy comes and goes and many of these spaces have different sized offices too, making it hard to predict what is available and the cost. Rates can vary depending on how many people are going to be housed in an office, and also whether you want to work at a shared table out in the open or in a closed private office.  Also, the operators want you to come visit their spaces and talk to the manager/rental agent/concierge to get the tour and the hard sell for signing up. Finally, depending on your needs, there are additional charges, such as for collecting your postal mail and using the conference rooms and common printers.

Typically, each operation will sell you a monthly membership of varying term lengths and future commitments. For CIC and Spaces, this membership is good for drop-in visits in their other cities. Spaces also has arrangements with thousands of Regus shared offices around the world for drop-in use (there are six here in St. Louis, for example). If you travel to those other cities and need a place to work, that’s great. TechArtista gives members access to LExC which offers shared workspaces around the world including South America, Australia, Canada, and throughout China.

Amenities also vary. CIC has lunches that you have to pay out of pocket for: a combination of catering and regularly scheduled food trucks that stop outside on its “Commons” – which is an attractive park area with chairs, shade and sometime music events. CIC is also clustered around the newest Metrolink station that stops literally behind the 4240 and 4220 buildings, which is convenient if you take transit. The other places are close enough to the numerous CWE eateries so that is their attraction.

All of the facilities offer “phone booth” areas, which is basically a counter in a small closed-off area that is a bit bigger than a standard payphone booth (remember them?) that you can bring in your laptop and have a private phone call. They also have conference rooms of varying shapes and sizes, with some having smart TV monitors that you can connect to your laptop if you have to give a presentation or do group brainstorming. All of the CWE facilities come with conference rooms that have a smartphone scheduling app that makes it easy (or cumbersome, depending on your tech savviness) to set up a room reservation. All of the spots offer wireless and, in some cases, wired Internet access as part of the membership. 

I had the three office managers do Internet speedtests and found these results:

• Spaces has 166 Mbps up and downlinks with 8 ms latency
• CIC had 340 Mbps downlink and 280 uplinks with 23 ms latency
• TechArtista had 110 Mbps up and downlinks with 20 Ms latency

The lower the latency and the high the link speeds the better. These numbers exceed the typical home connection speed offered by both Charter and AT&T, which is a real benefit if you care about this sort of thing.

There are various programming events at the different offices. Given that CIC has the largest population, it has a variety of activities including yoga and other physical activities. TechArtista has art opening events (there is a lot of art hanging on its walls), happy hour and lunch events for members. Spaces has their own members-only events (there were several this month for example).

As I have hinted: the CWE isn’t the only neighborhood in town that supports co-working.  I have a Twitter list that will connect you to most of them around town, including OPO in downtown St. Charles and Peer 151 in downtown Belleville. Spark is the newest coworking space, located literally across the street from the Cardinals’ ballpark. There is also Thrive in downtown Clayton.

Here are some things to think about in choosing a co-working space:

• Understand whom you will be working next to. Are you interested in meeting people like you or unlike you?  The choice is up to you.
• Vibe and décor. The spots also vary on their vibe, and that will be the hardest thing to pin down if you are looking to plant yourself in one of them. B Hive is more intimate, which could work if you are more introverted. My interior designer wife recognizes that many of you might prefer the Scandinavian design of the other places. And TechArtista has an artsy vibe, which could appeal to some. I liked the décor of Spaces but all that glass may not be your cup of tea.
• Try before you buy. Spaces offer a free day pass to check them out. But they also offer the most flexible pricing and usage plans: you can rent an office for two months or a year, and there are a wide variety of floor plans and even an interesting hybrid shared but private office that has a locked door but can house a dozen people sitting at study carrels. CIC has enough public events that pretty much anyone can walk in and sit down there and start working for a couple of hours. In my many visits to all of the places, there was a wide range of people of all ages and professions. 
• How quiet or noisy are the spaces? In my travels around to these places, many people worked with headphones on to isolate themselves and concentrate. You may want to check this out if the ambient sound level is important to you. Of course, the noise level varies depending on how many people are there on any given day.
• Do you need 24×7 access to your office? Some of the properties offer this, some don’t, some charge extra. If this is critical, make sure you ask for the details.
• Are you a party person? CIC with its Venture Café has them, and not just in the CWE but elsewhere in town. They can be very crowded, but you do get free drinks. And can meet a lot of people interested in the startup community too. The others, no so much although do have various social events if you want to meet and greet your office mates in a more casual setting.
• Do you really need your own office? Many of us can work with a laptop and a cellphone and not much more. Those shared spaces are less expensive. If you need a lot of stuff as part of your job, you need a private office to house it all.
• Will you be going to your office more often than not? If you are going to be out and about, or only in town occasionally, then having one of these spaces could be economical.
• Is parking a hassle? CIC has plenty of parking nearby, but the lots fill up on Thursdays when Venture Café holds its sessions. Spaces use the parking lot underneath the BofA building. TechArtista has plenty of off-street parking.  At the rest of the spaces mentioned, you’ll have to fend for yourself.
• Make sure you know the costs and contracts up front. This goes without saying. Tracking down prices is a chore for all of these spots, as I mentioned. For example, Spaces charges you fees for initial contract and a cleaning fee that is 3% of the monthly rent when you leave. Others have one- or two-months’ deposits that are refunded, just like a normal rental contract. Most require 30 days’ notice to leave. Some coworking spaces outside the CWE require one-year minimum contracts.”

Strom writes for a number of national IT business publications. To learn more about David, visit his website, blog or follow him on Twitter at @dstrom. Strom has published other guest posts on this blog, look here and here.

Thanks so much for the thorough update David.