Bright future for one kind of office life in Colorado Springs that aims for sense of community
For Frank Frey, general manager of Epicentral Coworking in downtown Colorado Springs, the business is all about nurturing a sense of community.
“I think the thing that makes us special as a coworking space,” he says, “why we’ve had members who keep coming back and why we keep growing, is because of the community we create and our ability to bring people together, getting people connected.”
Coworking brings the self-employed, remote workers and others together into a shared workspace where they can bounce ideas off one another, build friendships and engage in some water cooler talk minus the office politics. The age of COVID, with its social distancing and mask mandates and stay-at-home orders, hasn’t exactly been conducive to that concept. But as the pandemic eases, the future of coworking is seen as a bright one. A 2020 report by Colliers, a professional services and investment management company, estimated coworking spaces in the U.S. were likely to double or triple in the next five years. A study by Coworking Resources, an industry publication, estimates nearly 5 million people will be working from coworking spaces by 2024, an increase of $158% from 2020.
That comes as some people will never return to the traditional office setting or may settle into a hybrid schedule, with some days at the office and some days working remotely — whether at home or a coffee shop or a coworking facility. Some companies that have emptied their offices are paying for their employees to work out of facilities such as Epicentral.
Keith Mann, left, and Daniel Hall work at the Epicentral Coworking spot in downtown Colorado Springs Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. Mann organizes short term missions for The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America while Hall is a software engineer for Twitter. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
“It’s only booming at this point,” says Ryan Cross, founder of The Enclave, which opened in the summer of 2010 as the Springs’ first coworking space. “I feel like we’re only going to need more and more spaces, and different types of coworking spaces that cater to different types of people.”
The beginnings
Software engineer Brad Neuberg is believed to have launched the first official coworking space in the U.S. in 2005; the seeds for coworking appear to have been planted in the 1990s with the first “hackerspace” in Berlin, which brought computer enthusiasts together to share knowledge and facilities
The Enclave came about, Cross says, as “really just kind of me getting tired of doing the solo coffee shop circuit in the day as a solo contractor.” He and other remote workers got to know each other from working on their laptops at one coffee shop or another. Seeking to foster that budding community, he first arranged a Meetup at a downtown shop, then decided to look for a coworking space. Others quickly jumped on board, he says, “so that was the beginning.”
The Enclave, located off of Academy Boulevard on the east side of the Springs, was still the only coworking space in town when Lisa Tessarowicz and Hannah Parsons opened Epicentral in early 2012. They saw a specific need for a coworking facility downtown. “We wanted to give more people an opportunity to have an office downtown without having to make a huge investment,” Tessarowicz says.
Chris Deptula, who is a data engineer for Red Ventures, has been working at Epicentral Coworking for more than six years. “It gets me out of my house,” Deptula said. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Within two years, Epicentral had outgrown its space and moved next door to its current location, 415 N. Tejon St., in a building that Tessarrowicz, now Epicentral’s sole owner, purchased; in 2019, Epicentral opened a second location on the fifth floor of The Carlton, 13 S. Tejon. (An earlier attempt at a second location at the Ivywild School didn’t work out; among other things, the space just wasn’t right, Tessarowicz says.)
The Enclave and Epicentral are both membership-based. Memberships at Epicentral can be part or full time and range from “hot desking” — using whatever space is available — to having a dedicated desk or even a private office. Epicentral Main also has meeting rooms, phone booths, a kitchen, 24/7 access and a downstairs lounge.
Ethan Dirks, a freelance game developer and art director, joined Epicentral early this year; he was a newcomer to town, having moved to the Springs from Los Angeles. He was looking for a coworking site and was hooked by Epicentral’s online reviews and its downtown location, in walking distance to restaurants and bars.
“It’s nice to be around other people who are working and getting stuff done,” he says. “It kind of makes you feel like more things are happening. You don’t get stuck in your head; time actually passes. And you make friends. It’s really hard to make friends as an adult.”
Dealing with COVID
Elizabeth Bruce, a book editor at a ghostwriting and editorial firm, joined Epicentral as a member in August. With the “solitary and immersive nature” of her work, she said via email, “I have always been more productive when working in proximity to other people: I find it harder to take breaks and pull out of my head when WFH (working from home) and also harder to find a flow state, for whatever reason.”
Like Dirks, she was new to town — she moved here from New York — and was looking for a way to connect with people.
And she found that at Epicentral, she says.
“This is by far the most collaborative and collegial coworking environment I’ve ever been a part of, and in ways that go beyond sharing ideas and small talk. The people here are really invested in each other as, well, people, which has also made it a more comfortable work environment during the pandemic. (I was initially on the fence about whether or not I wanted to join a coworking space at all due to delta.) But, because there is such a strong community element, no one’s going to show up sick or if they know they’ve been exposed to COVID.”
Like other “nonessential” businesses, Epicentral had to shut down for a time in the early stages of the pandemic. Memberships were suspended, Frey said, so that people weren’t paying for a membership they couldn’t use.
“The pandemic was really hard,” Tessarowicz said. “We went from like 95% capacity to nothing.” And with restrictions lifted in stages, and with so much uncertainty concerning the virus, business was slow in returning. Help in the form of PPP loans and grants from the county kept Epicentral from sinking, though, she said. And now the private offices at Epicentral Main are fully occupied and the rest of the space is close to pre-pandemic levels, she said — even as some of that uncertainty remains.
Early on, Tessarowicz said, “We expected there would be a clear day when it’s over, but we’re still going through it.”
Dogs are welcome at The Wolf Den, a coworking space that has largely attracted creative types.
Adam Morley opened The Wolf Den, warehouse-style shared space in the shadow of the old Gazette building just east of downtown, in mid-2020, with the pandemic already underway. The Wolf Den served as offices for Morley’s marketing agency, Wolf & Key. When he shifted from full-time employees to contract work, he began renting the resulting available space to others in need of a place to work and hang out.
“It takes a specific type of person who likes being here,” he says. “This is what I call true coworking. There’s no option to go to a private room; if you’re in here, you’re hanging out with everyone.” (There is, however, a private conference room.)
The Wolf Den is a coworking space just east of downtown Colorado Springs.
Morley fits in as that “type of person.”
Keith Mann, left, and Daniel Hall work at the Epicentral Coworking spot in downtown Colorado Springs Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. Mann organizes short term missions for The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America while Hall is a software engineer for Twitter. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
Stickers cover the refrigerator at the Epicentral Coworking in downtown Colorado Springs Thursday, Nov. 10, 2021. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock)