A New Rochelle family has opened the first co-working space for entrepreneurs looking to build their businesses in the Sound Shore city.
Roy and Kathy Gilwit with their 24-year-old daughter, Miriam, in January opened Ground Floor, a 2,000-square-foot space at 547 North Ave. The office has both shared and private office spaces, allowing anyone from an illustrator to an urban planner to work away from home seven days a week at any hour of the day or night, the co-founders said.
“Our core mission is to really serve the people of this community as best as we can in building their business or launching their dream,” said Roy Gilwit, a computer support specialist at the New Rochelle Public Library.
- From left, Miriam, Kathy and Roy Gilwit at Ground Floor, a co-working space the family opened in New Rochelle. Photo courtesy of Kathy Gilwit
“It”™s really a blank canvas for anybody to do business their way,” said Kathy Gilwit, the city of New Rochelle”™s communications and marketing director.
While some entrepreneurs work in public spaces such as coffee shops and libraries, the Gilwits want Ground Floor to foster networking for people in the community.
“It”™s not just here”™s a desk, here”™s a chair, here”™s the Wi-Fi,” Kathy said. “The whole nature of co-working is collaborating. When you come, maybe you rub elbows with someone you wouldn”™t meet in a professional setting. From that comes innovation.”
Kathy said the concept for the business came about two years ago, when she, a former Westchester journalist, wanted to resume writing her book. “I had been looking for a place where I could be professional. I found home life wasn”™t conducive to getting it done.”
The Gilwits thought there must be many other people who could also benefit from having a professional workspace. Roy said some entrepreneurs do want their own office outside their homes but find it a daunting and expensive undertaking.
In 2013, Miriam Gilwit wrote a business plan for Ground Floor as her final project toward her degree at Lehigh University. Now a business analyst at Voya Investment Management in New York City, she met with advisers at the White Plains Small Business Development Center to review the business plan and researched its feasibility.
“Because it”™s a new model, we were seeing if it”™s really valuable,” Kathy said.
Volunteers at SCORE, a nonprofit that provides mentoring to small businesses, helped the Gilwits with tax information when they were filing the business and now assist them with their marketing plan, Miriam said.
The Gilwits visited co-working spaces in New York City, where shared offices have become a popular alternative for startup and early-stage companies, and other co-working business locations in Rye, Stamford, Conn., and New Jersey. They also received advice from Jenifer Ross, founder of W@tercooler, a co-working space in Tarrytown, Roy said.
Miriam said co-working space founders don”™t have a competitive nature when new spaces open, and many were candid about their experience. “It”™s a movement. It”™s something people are really passionate about and they want the other co-working spaces to thrive,” she said.
Last year, the Gilwits were approved for a $50,000 line of credit by Community Capital New York in Hawthorne, a nonprofit alternative lender to small businesses in the Hudson Valley region and Fairfield County, Conn. They signed a five-year lease on New Rochelle”™s North Avenue commercial corridor for an office space that had sat vacant for 10 years. Their total investment in the business was about $60,000.
The Gilwits invested nearly $40,000 in renovations to the deteriorated office. Having hired the services of an architect, electrician, building contractor and plumber, they recruited their nine children and many friends to help scrape, tear, build and fix the space.
“We”™ve been putting in our own money and lots of sweat equity,” Roy said. “I went through more spackle than I”™ve ever seen in my life.”
After five months of remodeling, the space includes a shared office with desks, a conference room, a private office and an open space with shared work tables. Amenities include a kitchen, lounge area, Wi-Fi and a printer, fax and copy machine.
Roy compared their pricing model with that of a gym membership. Full-time access to amenities and the shared spaces costs $300 a month, while that plus a private desk costs $500. The drop-in rate is $30 a day, and a 12-visit package is $240. Entrepreneurs can also rent the conference room for $50 an hour and a mailbox for $20 a month. A mailbox for a month plus an hour of meeting time goes for $60.
The Gilwits said initial members include a construction estimator and a wedding photographer who use the space to meet with clients, an urban planner and a writer. They said they have interest from nonprofits and community groups to meet there.
The space doubles as a showcase for the artwork of Roy Gilwit”™s late father and Gilwit”™s own paintings of New Rochelle street signs line the entrance, while his wife”™s photos are framed throughout. A phone booth with a functional pay phone, found on Craigslist, sits in the back.
“We”™ve got to create the space that reflects us,” Roy said. “It”™s urban/suburban. It”™s funky. We want it to be a very chill space.”
Ground Floor”™s owners now are hosting events to show off the space to potential new members. Kathy said they use social media and are exploring paid advertising on their limited budget. They have placed an ad on Burbio, a calendar site startup founded by Pelham couple Julie and Dennis Roche, and plan to host small business workshops that will be featured on Burbio”™s community calendars.
“It”™s grass roots and heavy networking to start,” Kathy said.
This article has been corrected to reflect that a mailbox at Ground Floor costs $20 a month.
