From the front area drenched in natural light, to the back room communal coffee kitchen -- where composting and recycling are enthusiastically embraced -- nearly two dozen businesses share one mind when it comes to environmental and sustainability issues.
"There's a lot of great interest right now amongst the entrepreneur community to find a collaborative workspace that's socially minded where people can get together and feel good about the world while they do their work. In the past month alone, our business has doubled," said Marissa Feinberg of Green Spaces.
For those who pay about $500 a month for work space, it goes beyond natural light and composting.
"Design with sustainability in mind. From the furniture that you see, it's all been refurbished, repurposed. It's been sourced directly from the street, from the sidewalk," said Roberto Rhett of Green Spaces. "It adds a creative atmosphere and a different feeling than your normal cubicle office space would have."
There are also low power consumption computers, experiments in natural decorating and hanging art made from repurposed materials.
"It looks good, people feel more comfortable about art especially if its green," said artist Susan Benarcik.
Green Spaces is hoping to attract a new breed of ecopreneur -- people with a keen appreciation for the concept of sustainability, and an understanding of the power of ideas.
"I wanted to have a platform to balance off ideas of other people, how to make my business more sustainable. In turn, I feel better about my product and so do my customers," said clothing designer Designer Sonia Tay.
Green Spaces also appears to be friendly when it comes to creating jobs.
"We've had several interns come into our program who have been hired with the Green Spaces company," Feinberg said.
In the TriBeCa office center, as well as in two more they are opening in other cities, green is translating to green for these ecopreneurs.
by Seth Leitman Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The purpose of Green Spaces is to connecting green or eco friendly change makers through a small business setting. This in turn helps businesses really grow. Small business always needs a place to go, expand and develop into a mature business. Having a space where you can meet with business colleagues, get the job done and learn about going green all in one. The place even has space where people can have events or eco friendly parties for the sake of launching a book, promoting a movie or letting your business have a location. They call it SalonEco!!!
They have incubator laced with old jeans since one of the companies located at the office refurbishes jeans to reduce the customer’s carbon footprint. This company is called Denim Therapy. These open and airy cubicles had some regular clients that had their office stuff at the desk.
In the front is a mini retail space location for your internet website to have a presence in the City. This is really important for small businesses since when I use to be Managing Member of a retail business they ALWAYS wanted a “STORE LOCATION”. This will help businesses convert potential clients to customers more effectively.
The brick laden walls provide a lofty feel. This provides a feeling of home; like you feel part of a community of green businesses. It’s cool how it all really started. Green Spaces started as an office and has now become home to hundreds of environmental innovators and stomping grounds for cutting edge entrepreneurs.
Hey, they even offer a one day FREE PASS to check out the place!Now, Green Spaces has:
Green Spaces New York not only offers work space, but is also a sustainable venue for events, fundraisers, supper clubs, art gallery showings, film screenings (as when I came here they screened The Great Green Smoke Screen) pop-up markets, workshops, classes, meet-up groups, and more!
The Features and Amenities are:
Green Spaces NY has many different membership levels:
Full-Time Desk Space: Have a desk with a lamp and filing cabinet.
Lounge Desk Space: Access a floating desk space in their funky cool "lounge area".
Then they have this thing called drop-in space for when you just drop-in; duh.They have all the amenities of a regular office, such as a vintage desk, filing cabinet, lamps, chairs, internet, printers, Copier, and Fax machines, a place to call your business home; aka a mailbox, conference rooms, interns, workshops, GREEN EVENTS, a kitchen and FREE COFFEE!! YEAH!!!
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview Marissa Feinberg Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer. Athough when I met up with Marissa at the Green Space location and I was able to tour the spot, I asked Marissa about where this is all leading. I mean this type of business incubator concept for green companies could be in cities nation and I don't know worldwide, she agreed. "We are really becoming the place for social change makers to unite and grow. We are looking at Los Angeles and other cities around the world where we can further the Green Economy. We have become so much more than we were set up to be. We are much more than an office; we are a happening hub where new business ideas are formed everyday. We have become a catalyst of thousands of global conversions that are bringing world changing action."
For more on this interview and more about Green Spaces, go to my website at Green Living Guy by clicking here. Click here to read the story on Greenopia.com.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 19, 2010
An article on Monday about environmentally focused start-up companies sharing green “co-working” spaces misstated the rental fee charged by Green Desk, one such venture, whose fee was compared with the cost of Green Spaces, another start-up company. While Green Spaces charges $550 for a single desk with 24-hour access, Green Desk charges $299 — not $199 — for comparable space and access.
