NORTHAMPTON — When IBM vacated its office space in the former post office on Plesant Street in late November, the company left behind a furnished suite and uncertainty as to what the building’s ownership should do with the space.
As many continue to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeff Dwyer, who owns the 47 Pleasant St. building known as the Coolidge Center, decided to divide the suite into “micro-lease” coworking offices, known collectively as Hamp Co-Working.
While some think of coworking as a relatively new trend, the concept is tried and true, said Dwyer, who splits his time between Florida and Northampton.
“I did coworking in 1979, and it was called a shared office,” Dwyer said. Having read about coworking spaces trending nationally, Dwyer looked at the already furnished space and decided, “let’s just do what we did 40 years ago,” he said.
At Hamp Co-Working, tenants sign on to a three month “micro-lease” at a rate of $2,000 per month. The approximately 3,000-square-foot space currently houses four offices, but has room for two more if additional tenants express interest.
The price tag includes 24-hour office access, parking spaces, utilities, Wi-Fi, a shared conference room and kitchenette, and other features outlined on Dwyer’s website, hampcowork.com/.
The micro-leases don’t provide the security that some people property owners and tenants like when seeking out a multiyear lease, Dwyer said, “but it’s not an obligation either to keep on paying.” Goggins Real Estate is managing the rentals.
Hamp Co-Working joins Click Workspace in the coworking business downtown. But opening another coworking space in town “makes sense with the pandemic sending everyone to work from home,” according to Dwyer.
“People trying to figure out how to rent office space now that people are working from home,” he said. “They still want a place to meet clients but don’t want them coming to their house.”
Dwyer began advertising the space about a week ago and has so far had a few people express interest, but none have signed on as of Monday.
The space’s long-term future is uncertain at the moment, Dwyer said. He’s not certain how the coworking idea will pan out, but said that if the idea takes off, “I’ll just keep renting them. There’s no real reason to do anything else.”
The Coolidge Center, constructed in 1903 as a post office, was renovated in 1990 for office space and named after Calvin Coolidge, a former mayor and 30th president of the United States.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.