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Permalink Reply by Ted Murphy on May 28, 2008 at 7:49am

We have about 4,000 square feet of unused office space (right now anyway) at IZEA downtown. We moved from the 3rd floor to the 4th floor and still have the old lease. It is already furnished and wired.

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Permalink Reply by Jon Gambrell on May 28, 2008 at 6:01pm

Are you looking to sublease this space to other companies or what? That's a lot of open unused space.

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Permalink Reply by Ted Murphy on May 28, 2008 at 7:52am

There is also space at MindComet in Altamonte.

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Permalink Reply by Cory Collier on May 28, 2008 at 11:22am

Sir,
So who is the contact for using the space? Need pricing, availability, info.

Thanks

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Permalink Reply by Missy Ward on May 28, 2008 at 11:40am

Wow -- Altamonte would be terrific as I'm in Longwood.

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Permalink Reply by Missy Ward on May 28, 2008 at 11:39am

I've been looking for something like this for a while now and haven't found anything. If you come up with something, definitely let me know!

-Missy

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Permalink Reply by Cory Collier on May 29, 2008 at 1:14pm

I asked Ted before about where, but I was being facetious. Nothing against Ted. I'm sure they have excellent space available for use. However, we at NFi are starting a Co-Working space downtown in the Angebuilt, off of Wall St.

We're looking for feedback on what the community wants for this. Some of the ideas floating around now, are hardwood floors, Monster vending machine, T1, common lounge area, etc...

It's still early, so any commitment, and / or feedback would be greatly appreciated!

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Permalink Reply by Ted Murphy on June 5, 2008 at 12:05pm

Corry,
I was just trying to be helpful. The space is completely separate from IZEA's headquarters on a different floor. We are one block from wall street. If you already have space that's cool too, just wanted to offer it up because it is completely unused right now.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Rudloff on June 5, 2008 at 10:13am

Every tuesday there is a group that gets together at Stardust for a jelly-ish/coworking session.

Basically, here's the jest of what we've found (I was one of the people pushing heavily for coworking a couple years ago when I moved back down from dc, started the google group, held meetings, etc).

There is a lot of interest for something in Orlando. When it comes to ponying up the cash for the space, the interest of course subsides a bit ;) People seem to be looking for the 200-250 range in an ideal location (downtown, college park, thorton park, winter park are pretty much the 'options'). This makes the math pretty tough unless we have a number of people ready to go -- rent in these areas are pretty high, though right now it may be coming down some.

The next thing to consider is that coworking spaces tend to work best when they are conclusions -- natural, evolutionary steps to a scene. Indy Hall worked on their coworking group for over a year before grabbing the space. Citizen Space is the product of an even longer evolution -- from hat factory onward.

The idea behind getting together on tuesday is to build the habit, build the relationships, build the friendships required to start a peaceful, balanced coworking space.

There are also a number of us who get together for likemind.us, which is once a month at panera downtown. It's a morning/coffee get together sponsored by Random House publishing. "After" (usually around 9:30/10ish), a few of us stick around and all work/hang out. Same kind of idea as the tuesday meetup at Stardust.

There's some arguing going on in the community about what coworking is and isn't. It's kind of silly as ultimately what we're all looking for is to settle the same need -- shared communal space. There are a few shared work spaces in Orlando being operated as businesses, and like Ted mentioned, there is shared space available at Izea. Both are potentially great options.

"Coworking", by brand (not by verb), is supposed to be a not for profit thing and pull in the barcamp kind of ideals (in fact, its the same community, think of it as a 'side project' of sorts. It's been called 'barcamp everyday'.)

I only mention it because the idea behind coming up with a common set of values and a shared brand, is that the community hopes to be able to do things like exchange programs, or space reserved for travelers (i.e., I'm a member of the orlando coworking joint, I'm in paris so I'm completely welcome at their coworking joint). A loose network of like minded office shares.

I'd love to see that in Orlando, as its a really really great/legit community to be a part of.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Marden on June 19, 2008 at 2:35am

I've always been jazzed by the idea, and usually show up for a few hours on Tuesday to bang out some work. The food is good and the company better.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Price on June 11, 2008 at 10:30pm

Do you go to Coworking Tuesdays at Stardust? It is listed on the coworking wiki - that is the official Orlando coworking movement as of right now - anywhere from 5 to 12 folks are there every week all day Tuesday.

As for myself, I recently got a 9 to 5, so I come on my lunch break, but I am there showing my support.

The only way Orlando will ever have a coworking space is if we have a super-consistent group of core folks who can afford to pay for the space without any help from the small-frys. If you just want free space, go to Stardust, Austin's or Panera Bread.

There are lots of rumblings, but they're all happening in the backchannels - there are not many posts on the Orlando Coworking mailing list on Google Groups - make some noise there - lots of folks are subscribed.

Also, if anyone blogs about Orlando Coworking, I have set up a Google Alert so I can go read their posts and comment. Discussion and networking will drive this movement, and it won't happen overnight.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Price on June 11, 2008 at 10:32pm

Wow, it wasn't obvious that there was a whole discussion thread here, I posted this comment in the blind, but I don't think I repeated too much info.

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