COhatch, the Columbus-based coworking chain, plans to take up residence in Ohio City, joining the mix of cultural, entertainment, exercise and brewpubs in the old neighborhood west of downtown.
Through 2814 Detroit Investments LLC, principals and investors in COhatch on Aug. 18 paid $2 million to acquire the former Bounce nightclub complex, a once-prominent LGBT bar that has been empty since 2017.
Matt Davis, COhatch CEO and co-founder, said in a phone interview that the company liked the "great bones" of the building, and it fit the firm's goal to locate in walkable neighborhood settings.
"Our goal is to be where people want to be," Davis said. "We love the energy of Ohio City. We are a community-centric coworking concept. We want people to not only work in our spaces but socialize there, go to restaurants near by and be at the heart of where they want to be, and that's often in places close to where they live."
The nine-location company — which has sites in downtowns in Ohio cities such as Delaware and Worthington, as well as the Easton and Polaris shopping centers in Columbus — positions itself as a club, charging would-be tenants a membership fee. That allows them to use amenities such as conference rooms, obtain private offices and have at no cost non-business-hours use of spaces for everything from a meeting to a family reunion.
Plans call for the old Bounce complex, which already has been gutted, to become more than 3,000 square feet of open-designed coworking space. It also will have about 30 private offices and new "innovation hubs," or larger offices designed to give businesses that are shedding traditional offices during the pandemic a place to hold meetings, gather and exchange ideas.
About 5,000 square feet of the complex will be leased to a third-party restaurateur — who is still in the works and on evenings and weekends will be able to expand to a 2,000-square-foot arcade-style game area that typically serves COhatch's business tenants.
The company toys with various maker, culinary and retail concepts in the properties along with office users, and they vary from location to location. For example, the Ohio City location will have a cafe and a podcast station; a future COhatch site will offer a green screen, Davis said.
"I like to say it's a selfish concept, based on the way I like to do business and live life," the former corporate executive said. "A lot of business gets done based on who you know, people you meet at a social event. The kind of thing where your wife starts beating on your arm and saying, 'no shop talk,' to keep it casual."
As a result, members range from recent college grads getting by as freelancers to people in their 30s who are starting a business and seeking pleasant work surroundings.
"We even have an 80-year-old who belongs so his Bridge club can play there," Davis said. "The way we monetize our space is not to be all about work. Anyone who is all about work in coworking will go out of business."
To ruffle Davis, ask him about WeWork, the fast-growing, recently stumbling coworking concept that grew quickly on the coasts but never landed in Cleveland.
"WeWork was all about taking space, dividing it up and giving it back to the market. It was arbitrage. You can only optimize for one thing, and in WeWork's case, it was greed and growth," Davis said. "Our scope is broader than work. We are a place you'll work and want to bring your kids. Or join to get access to our (Holmes, Fla.) beach house and share stories about what you found in the area and how you liked it. I'd rather die with 1,000 locations that help people and $1, than 3,000 locations and a fortune."
The concept and community dedication of Davis also helped COhatch land the Ohio City site. Rico Pietro, a principal of Cushman & Wakefield | Cresco brokerage, bought the building at a sheriff's sale in 2013, through 2814 Detroit LLC, for $287,000.
"I wanted to lease the building to them," Pietro said. "But their feeling was that they were going to invest so much in the building they should own it. I decided it would be good for the community because of partnerships they form with nonprofits and the way they are involved in their neighborhoods. It was also a chance to add something more to Ohio City than another brewpub and help diversify the neighborhood."
Asked how he felt he did with the much richer resale price, Pietro said, "No one's going to get rich owning a building for (three years)." He was referring to the carrying costs of a property that produces no income, yet utility costs and property taxes still accrue.
Davis said the company estimates it will invest about $1.5 million initially in the complex. And that won't be the last work on it.
"It's in really bad shape," Davis said. "But we also plan to look at ways to use the rooftop decks in the future. The parking lot will be designed to expand to a patio for the restaurant in the evenings. We're all about flexibility."
COhatch went through a long deliberative process with the Franklin-Clinton Block Club to gain support for its plans.
Ashley Shaw, Ohio City Inc.'s director of economic development and neighborhood planning, said COhatch tweaked its plans with ideas from the neighborhood, such as adding a family-oriented restaurant. It even moved the members-focused arcade (video gaming) area within the building so it could be next to the restaurant and available for its patrons.
"I'm so excited about the concept because it would put the long-vacant property back into use," Shaw said.
She said the two existing coworking locations in Ohio City — Limelight and Beauty Shoppe — already are proving the benefit of such set-ups for the neighborhood. She said they are spawning new businesses that are starting to look for their own locations in the area to expand beyond what the coworking sites offer.
COhatch expects to open the 2814 Detroit location next March. It had announced plans for a location at Legacy Village mixed-use center in the spring, but Davis said it's now considering other options to serve the city's east suburbs. The company envisions 10 locations to serve all of Northeast Ohio.
Costs in Cleveland will be similar to those at existing locations, Davis said.
The COhatch website offers "starter" memberships from $59 per month that allow members to use work spaces 10 hours a month. A part-timer will pay $149 monthly, and a full-timer, $199. A dedicated desk starts at $299 a month. Various discounts on meeting rooms and free times to access personal event spaces are offered at each membership level.
Already established as the largest coworking operator in Columbus, with a location in Dayton and a second on the way in Cincinnati, COhatch has big plans. Davis said it hopes to be operating in 10 major metropolitan areas within 10 years.
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