Paula C. Squires// April 28, 2014//
Richmond’s entrepreneurs and small business community has a new place to gather, literally. Gather, a new co-working space opened early this month at 409 E. Main St. in downtown Richmond with more than 10,000 square feet of co-working space.
It is the culmination of the vision of five Richmond entrepreneurs who wanted to provide a collaborative environment for the region’s growing startups and small-business community.
“We have been there. We know what it is like to try to work from a coffee shop or from your office in the spare bedroom,” Andy Beach, a founding partner, said in a statement.
Gather provides a working environment with amenities at costs ranging from $35 a day to its most popular package of $250 a month.
Tenants have use of conference rooms, event space, free Internet, locally ground coffee, copiers, printers, scanners and fax machines, storage units, a workout facility and kitchen.
Doug White, another founding partner, describes Gather as “a community where people with great ideas can come together to work, share and learn from each other.”
Co-working spaces are a growing trend in Virginia with others located in downtown Roanoke and Northern Virginia.
Besides offering office space, Gather plans to sponsor a continuing series of educational and social events in the evenings. “These will range from discussions with successful entrepreneurs such as Shawn Boyer of Snagajob to networking opportunities featuring craft beer and food trucks,” said Polly White, a Gather partner.
Currently, about 20 tenants lease space at Gather. The company has room for up to 70 tenants, since not everyone works the same hours or gathers at the same time.
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