Updated information 4/17/2009 

If you are interested in the Coworking concept in Minneapolis I suggest linking to CoworkingTwinCities this is an active group that will make Coworking in the Twin Cities a reality. A location may or may not be in Minneapolis but we are looking to expand the community and build a robust membership base before a Coworking location is chosen. If you have any questions or are looking to get more information feel free to join us on Facebook, Twitter or contact me stephenfiling-at-gmail.com  

Updated information 3/28/2009

There will be a meeting on Coworking to revitalize the Twin Cities Coworking conversation. This go around there will be a tangible result whether that be a small house to work from, I have a recently rehabbed home ready to go in 30 days to a local neighborhood space to a large scale relationship with a property management company. April 1 6pm at my place in Saint Paul. Call Stephen at 651-336-6806 to RSVP. From that meeting edits to this forum and other online groups will be defined so look for more information in the coming weeks

The Coworking concept is awesome. It's difficult to run your business alone and I have found that satisfying and exciting work does not happen in the isolation of a cube or at my home office. It takes a community and network of people to help you acheive success in your business. I have begun the process of pinging local technology entreprenures to see of their interest in getting something like Coworking going in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Twin Cities Area. I'm hopeful that others might see the positive aspects of working and developing their businesses in this way.

This information was posted a year ago and may be out of date: 

There is the start of a location along these lines in Saint Paul's Lowertown.

• It's called "A Place at Liberty Square", and is intending to open on September 1st, 2007.
• It has 12,000 square feet, including a conference room and 15 offices, so that is plenty of room to grow.
• Memberships will be comparable to other Coworking sites (~$350 for an all-access membership, ~$200 for a Hotdesk membership).
• See the planning Wiki for more information: Saint Paul Coworking Site: A Place at Liberty Square.

Here is what I'm looking to accomplish, inspired by the Coworking model:

• Individual offices for each small business that they can lock and secure and are a quiet place to work.
• Commons area where people can relax, socalize and work on projects together - think "Bar Camp".
• Commons area can be easily rearranged to host after hours meetings by local technology groups.
• Located somewhat centrally - easy access via bus or LRT.
• Close to coffee shops / restaurants for lunch dinner meetings.
• High speed internet and land line phone service if need included in monthly cost.
• Maibox address to receive mail.
• Free use of conference room if needed to meet with clients.

Suggestions:

• Option on a phone line for the conference room so that you could have conference calls.
• Have a receptionist that answers the phone (a later stage idea probably) with the "brand" of the person's company depending on what line lights up? This person could also do mailings, copying, faxing, etc. - maybe all could chip in to pay that person's hourly rate, each coworker gets a certain number of hours of their time per month maybe.
• Add your suggestion here

Who wants to be a part of Coworking in Minneapolis?

• Justin Grammens
• Ben Edwards and the Refactr team may be interested (in between gigs)
• Dan Grigsby
• Patrick Rhone
• Michael Amundson
• Ben Wallace (interested in exploring - currently in home office)
• Add your name here

What locations are conveient for you?

• Justin Grammens - Downtown or along Hiawatha Rail Line.
• Ben Edwards - I like the North Loop area downtown Minneapolis
• Dan Grigsby - South end of Minneapolis; close to 62
• Patrick Rhone - Lowertown/Saint Paul
• Ben Wallace - St. Paul and South metro preference)
• Add your name and location here

Current office space I have looked at:

• The Old Spaghetti Factory building - 233 Park Ave. - Status ( waiting to hear back from the tenant on sublease possibilty).
• 2225 E 35th Street - Right next to the Chatterbox Pub in Minneapolis. - Status - Already rented.
• 38th & Hiawatha - Alredy rented
• 48th & Chicago - 3 offices - 880 sq. ft. $1600/month. A bit spendy.
• Ford Building - All different sizes - 1600 sq. ft. - $2000/mo
• 1st ave & 4th st. - 1550 sq. ft. - $1800/mo
• 600 N Washington - Same prices as others. Had an office with 3 large segmented rooms and another at around 800 sq. ft. Rent prices were the same.
• Have been in contact with a rental "broker" who is now going to be doing the searching for me.

Links:

We had a great turnout and discussion at MinneBar. It certainly seems like there is an interest in keeping the discussions going. Tom Brice has setup a few outlets to hopefully keep the discussion going.

http://groups.google.com/group/minnebar-discuss/browse_thread/thread/473726eae18729c2

http://groups.google.com/group/coworking-minneapolis-st-paul

http://journal.onidle.com/2007/04/minnebar-and-coworking/

Costs:

In downtown minneapolis you are looking at around $11-$14/sq. ft / year. It's going to be diffficult to justify the cost of a custom build out so we need to take what is already existing in terms of layout. With needing a conference room and having some open spaces, realistically I'm thinking each person probably will need about 300 sq. ft., so that means each person should plan on around $350 month. There also are going to be some startup costs. Curtains possibly to segment off areas, a microwave, desks, couch, rugs, etc.. I would like the space to look nice. Plan on each person putting in $100 each for start up costs. These are downtown costs... I'm hoping to possibly find places outside of downtown minneapolis that are less expensive and convenient for people involved.

All in one

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I'm beginning the process of looking for office space in the Twin Cites area that could be modified to suit the needs outlined above. If this is something you are interested in learning more about or have information that could be added to this page please contact me at: justin [at] localtone.com

Having fun and building a community of likeminded individuals that can learn and grow their companies together is the ultimate goal.