Iconic Bank building bottom right adjacent to Jones Library
The stunning former First National Bank building located in the heart of downtown will soon be a beehive of entrepreneurial activity, as Boston based WorkBar is expanding to our little college town.
The bank building, owned by Barry Roberts, has been empty since last summer when TD Bank consolidated into their Triangle Street building in the north end of downtown.
WorkBar is kind of like a health club for entrepreneurs whereby you pay a membership fee to come in and use the facility whenever you need it. They offer full and part time memberships payable by the month and will be featuring high speed wireless gigabit service.
The center of town is about to get a much needed shot in the arm!
15 comments:
Wow, are you late to the story. Everyone new this a month ago.
Not officially.
And I was asked not to run with it until it was official. That email came in about an hour ago.
Presumption is Amherst is a place where single people aged 25-35 want to be. As one who was, I can assure you it isn't -- Barry's gonna get burned on this one....
Barry don't get burned. Barry just waits for the next renter. If you knew Barry you wouldn't worry about him.
old folks like the concept too!
Oh great!!! Another fantastic idea that will see the space vacant in six months.
Thanks for the story Larry, this is awesome news. There is absolutely no reason why Amherst couldn't support a thriving entrepreneurial community. It is a great place to live, and when kids graduate they are leaving because we don't have a use for their skills.
Brett
I am little mystified here. What will this place offer to Entrepreneurs besides a place and high-speed Internet?
Meeting rooms? Multipoint video conferencing? High quality onsite print services? I'd love to know. I want to go there.
All (or at least most) of the above. I included a link to their homepage.
A guaranteed winner. I'm tired of using Amherst Coffee as my default office, and so are some of my friends. I'd rather grab a coffee and go here.
I spoke with a guy from WorkBar a few weeks ago and they told me of their interest. DIdn't realize they had signed a lease. If you check out the similar business, Clic Workspace, over in Northampton, they just renovated the former antique store on Market St. and are full to capacity. The only thing that still makes this a tough for some people like me is....you have to feed a meter every two hours if you don't live near enough to bike in either of these towns. If they had done this as they've done in three large Staples stores then no one would have to pay for parking. I think having to do this every two hours is a deal breaker. But I am sure this place is going to be filled to capacity, and it's a collaborative workspace so people can share ideas not just sit silently on their laptops.
If the BANANAs only knew www.workbar.com
This is so huge! A Workbar Amherst is like wow.
Max,
The parking lot across from the library has longer parking times. And it's good to get up a walk a bit. Don't let it be a deal-breaker--toughen up.
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