For those in Williamsburg who work from home, there’s going to be new options for where work is done.
The Ignition Center in Williamsburg, a local nonprofit that helps entrepreneurs thrive, is working with Workspace, a coworking space business, to provide entrepreneurs and those who work from home a location where they can interact in a professional environment.
In September, the Ignition Center will modernize its current space with new flooring, private rental offices and a new design to give people an option to work remotely in style.
“What this does is give people the freedom to get out of their home office,” said John Bundy, manager of Ignition Workspace. “For me, I was working from my bedroom and others work from coffee shops or the library, which can be difficult.”
Bundy described the collaboration as a gym membership for businesses. The model is that a business or employee can rent out one of the nine offices, or the conference room or simply desk space, for whatever desired period of time.
The idea is to give local business professionals a location where they can conduct business and aren’t confined to their homes.
This concept has become popular in recent years and Bundy decided to research it when he worked from a similar coworking space two years ago in Richmond.
“I fell in love with it and at the moment I realized I needed to own one of these,” Bundy said. “When I walked into this Ignition Space for the first time, I walked into a dream. It was what I saw when I envisioned the perfect collaborative workspace.”
Previously, Bundy had worked with Cowork Gloucester VA where he learned more about the coworking environment.
One of the aspects he found particularly attractive about the business was that each office space could have a different personality but it all fell under one roof.
To create this space though, Bundy said there was a wall in the building that had to be knocked down. This helped build a location where private offices could face windows. In doing so, the area opened up to create a variety of different types of coworking spaces.
Members have the choice to rent out a private office, their own personal desk, a conference room as well as other options, Bundy said. In addition to the space, those that sign up for a membership will have access to the Ignition mentor and investor network, which has raised nearly $1 million for Virginia startups.
There will also be access to free coffee each morning from King of Clubs, which is owned by Lance Zaal, a managing member at the Ignition Center.
However, during the renovation process, Ignition will be closed until the last week in August.
On Sept. 7, there will be what Bundy calls a “soft opening” where people can come to check out the new space and start working. The business will have its official grand opening on Oct. 11.
Applications are now available.
For more information, visit Ignition online.
