The concept of a co-working space isn’t new. Over the past few years, the trend has caught on and multiple locations have opened around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I’ve even used one or two of them. So when I heard that Uptown was getting its first true co-working space, at 1919 McKinney Avenue, I was skeptical that maybe the market was becoming a bit oversaturated. And when I heard that this new one, Spaces Dallas, from an Amsterdam-based company owned by Dallas-based Regus Corporation, was 67,000 square feet and two-and-a-half floors, I thought there was no way that many people could have a use for it. But I needed to go check out the city’s largest co-working space for myself since it opens on Monday.
I accidentally walked in the back door on Cedar Springs and admittedly got a little lost in the maze of offices trying to find my way to the front, on the McKinney side. It turns out that both entrances are at street level, even though there are two floors. Smartly designed, it maximizes the space it occupies in a 100-year-old building just north of Klyde Warren Park. Historic exposed brick and metalwork mixed with modern light fixtures and furniture gives the place a bright and airy feeling.
The front opens up to a common area, where there is a coffee shop and cafe that will serve Truebrew Outfitters coffee to keep customers caffeinated. There’s another common area beyond that, which can serve as space for keynote speakers or presentations. Every desk and booth that is out in the open can be used with the basic membership for $200 a month. Prices for one of the 200-plus private offices and meeting rooms go up from there. I was taken aback by how many office spaces there were on both floors, but Spaces Dallas manager Brian Bigham told me that more than 50 percent of that real estate has already been pre-leased, and he expects that number to quickly go up when it opens in a few days. “I can’t imagine how many people are going to come in and say they love the concept,” Bigham says.
Spaces Dallas, which houses artwork solely featuring places and things in Texas, differentiates itself from other similar concepts in town by focusing on hospitality and facilitating connections, but not just among creatives. Any individual or company can rent space here regardless of line of work, and the company plans to work with local businesses and leaders to offer workshops and seminars while promoting networking among their members.
There’s also a 5,000-square-foot outdoor courtyard on the Cedar Springs side, complete with murals, lounge chairs, umbrellas, and games so people can work (or play) outside on a nice day. Spaces Dallas even has its own floral arrangement services, IT support, and dry cleaning services for members if they need to take the place up on its 24/7 access. And fear not—there is plenty of parking in a garage next door. So, no, I don’t think they’ll have a hard time filling up their space after all.
