BUSINESS

Co-working company comes to Augusta

SharedSpace facility would be firm's first outside metro Atlanta

Damon Cline
dcline@augustachronicle.com
Michael Everts, president and co-founder of SharedSpace, hands out his business card during at Wednesday's event announcing the Atlanta-based company's $3.2 million investment in a co-working facility at 901 Greene St. [DAMON CLINE/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]

Think of it as a gym membership for start-up companies.

An Atlanta-based developer of co-working facilities on Wednesday announced it will open more than 15,000 square feet of low-cost office space at 901 Greene St. for budding entrepreneurs in Augusta.

The company, SharedSpace, was founded in 2016 and operates two co-working facilities in DeKalb and Cobb counties that are primarily aimed at suburban professionals seeking to avoid Atlanta traffic. The company was drawn to Augusta, however, because the state's $100 million investment in the Hull McKnight Georgia Cyber Center for Innovation and Training facility just two blocks away could generate small business spinoffs, president and co-founder Michael Everts said.

"We're just really so excited to bring SharedSpace outside of metro Atlanta and expand into the thriving tech epicenter that Augusta is starting to turn into," he said during a media event at the building, which was previously occupied by the Georgia Department of Corrections' Augusta Probation Office.

City officials present at the announcement said SharedSpace's acquisition and renovation of the property represents a $3.2 million investment. Records of the sale were not immediately available from Richmond County. In addition to on-street parking, SharedSpace will reportedly lease surplus county-owned spaces across the street at the Augusta Judicial Circuit's Public Defenders Office.

Everts said the facility should open in November with room for 45 private offices, 10 dedicated desks and 60 "hot desks" – workstations that can be rented on an as-needed basis for as little as $99 a month – and five conference rooms that can be booked using a smartphone. The facility will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to enable entrepreneurs to work on projects outside their day jobs.

A local investment group announced a similar co-working concept, called the Augusta Innovation Zone, in late 2016 in the former Woolworth and Johnson buildings at the corner of Eighth and Broad streets. That project, whose launch was timed to coincide with the opening of the Hull McKnight facility in July, has not come to fruition.

Downtown Development Authority Vice Chairman Rick Keuroglian said the SharedSpace development could spur additional office growth south of Broad Street.

"The spirit you guys are bringing is exciting and is contagious," he said to Everts. "We are hoping there is going to be a great impact for years to come."