

20,000 square foot coworking / hackspace opens in Manhattan - reddittor
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/a-place-for-techies-to-gather/?ref=technology

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v21
Is this really a hackspace? I know it's a woolly word, but a hackspace seems
like a different thing to a coworking space - less focused on building
businesses, and more on making cool shit and the sense of community.

Sure there's overlap, but it seems to me the ideal time at a coworking space
would be quiet crunching on your business, with some interesting people to
chat to in the kitchen. The best times at a hackspace are when someone gets an
idea, and someone else gets excited, and before you know it you're learning
how to cast something in resin. The hackspace is the ideal "Third Space",
whereas a coworking space is still ... work. Cool work, and hopefully pleasant
and fulfilling to be at, but still work.

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aditya
Yeah, nycresistor comes much closer: <http://nycresistor.com>

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davidykay
I'm a member. Things seem pretty rad so far!

Dedicated members get the best treatment, of course, but community members
like me still get 24/7 access to the building and full use of the conference
rooms, etc.

The remodeling is great and they've done a good job with furniture. The common
areas are perpetually occupied, but not crowded.

Will be interesting to see how the mandatory lessons and blog posts pan out.
I'm actually quite looking forward to them.

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bootload
_"... General Assembly has three tiers of membership. Entrepreneurs and start-
ups can rent desks and work spaces for $500 per month to use as a full-time
office, which roughly 90 people already do. ..."_

Remove the middle man.

A startup cost for an office is a) access to _"cheap processing"_ (Laptop) and
b) _"cheap office_ (house, rented flat or coffee shop) and c) _"cheap net
access"_. The common factor, cheap. Spending excess money can be a substitute
for being _"relentlessly resourceful"_ and fostering a culture of
_"cheapness"_.

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carbon8
It's definitely nice to see coworking taking off. There's a combination of
factors that I think are leading to increased popularity of coworking:
proliferation of smaller teams, more remote workers, cheaper real estate
prices. Even with the lower real estate prices, however, it's very difficult
to make them profitable, so operating one is often a labor of love.

Anyway, to any Chicagoans looking for a nice coworking space, check out
Desktime: <http://desktimeapp.com>

I'm currently opening a 2500 sq ft coworking space in Evanston, IL
(<http://coworkingevanston.com/>). The website isn't updated yet and we are
still building out one of the private areas, but we are already fully
operational in the main spaces (<http://desktimeapp.com/spaces/92-coworking-
evanston>). Even before officially opening we already started developing a
nice community of developers and designers. If you are on Chicago's north
side, in Evanston, the North Shore or anywhere else in the area, drop by (600
Davis, 2nd Fl).

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ahi
idle curiosity; anyone know if Adam Pritzker is one of _the_ Pritzkers?
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pritzker_family>

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alexophile
Seems plausible.

<http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Pritzker_family>

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mdolon
It looks like their coworking space is by invite only and is currently full.
Anyone know of any other good coworking/hackspaces in the NYC area that have
space available?

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alexknowshtml
Check out New Work City - <http://www.nwc.co>

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YuriNiyazov
hi alex!

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jonah
For those of you who have worked in a space like this: How is the environment?
Noise, distractions, people coming-and-going, phone calls, etc. How does it
work in practice for heads-down productivity and how does it work for sitting
down and hashing something out with your co-founders?

I really like the concept of community, but how is it in practice?

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YuriNiyazov
I've worked in places like this. I am very easily distractible by noise, but I
can usually ignore people walking around me, so for heads-down productivity,
headphones or earplugs for me are a must. However, I've always had headphones
even in standard cubicle/office environment where it's supposedly quiet and
easy to concentrate and get work done. If you find the visual aspect of people
coming-ang-going distracting, you might have an issue.

For sitting down and hashing something out with your co-founders, these places
are great - conference rooms and whiteboards are usually very available, and
that guy across from you who usually has headphones on might actually turn out
to be a MySQL expert who can answer a very obscure question in 15 seconds.

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codex
Coworking is really gaining a head of steam. I use a coworking space in
Seattle that I can't say enough good things about: <http://officenomads.com>.
Great space, great community. Indispensable for those who could work at home,
but don't want to.

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civilian
Awesome! I'm also in Seattle- I'm not working for myself yet, but I might be
in the future, in which case I'm really thinking about joining office nomads.

Do the people from similar disciples give each other help much? I like the
idea of being around other programmers that I could query, but I'd feel guilty
about wasting their Work time.

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wybo
In London, Islington there is "the Hub". A visit to that space a couple of
years ago, as part of an introduction to the startup-scene by a friend of
mine, was a very inspiring experience, that oddly enough made me decide to
study in the UK :)

<http://islington.the-hub.net/public/>

(and they have multiple locations, including two in the Bay Area:
<http://bayarea.the-hub.net/public/>)

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retroguy
You don't happen to know of anything similar in Scotland, central belt?

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wybo
No, sorry

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iAinsley
It seems like the co-working movement is picking up steam. General Assembly,
SunshineCo and a bunch of other spots.

The best thing about co-working is that it gets you away from the isolation
some people feel when they are working from home. Also, meeting with other
"smart" people is a great way to get and stay motivated. Northern NJ has a
great spot I use called ConvergeNJ. <http://convergenj.com>.

What do you think of the long term prospects?

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mikek
Anyone know of any good coworking places in the Bay Area?

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T_S_
Hacker Dojo in Mountain View. Great community. Membership is $100 per month.
Around the corner from YC.

