COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Next to the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, a group is starting what they're calling the first co-working space for entrepreneurs in the city.
"We have nothing like this," said Niki Ferguson, the Pottawattamie County entrepreneurial development manager for the Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation. "There's no options for co-working or anything like it in the city."
That's something she and others at the nonprofit economic development group have wanted to change for years. In the space, there will be offices, a kitchen, meeting spaces and space for pop-up retail shops.
Ferguson said it'll be a chance for people across industries to come together.
"Entrepreneurs feed off each other," she said. "It could be a food start-up and an artist. Or a distiller and a writer. They can still learn from each other ... I've seen collaborations that I never would've thought ... happen organically (at other co-working spaces)."
She says co-working spaces are one of the fastest growing forms of commercial real estate in the world.
One of the Council Bluffs companies expecting to utilize the space is Tandem Works, a consulting firm.
"Our space is great," said Tandem Works co-owner, Vivian Kvam. "But there are times where it's just not quite right. We need a little more room, or we need some breakout rooms."
3 News Now caught up with Kvam via Zoom from the Iowa State Fair. She believes the Council Bluffs space will be popular with visitors, too.
At the fair, she of course isn't at a co-working space, but she likes to visit other cities' spaces when she's out of town.
"Working out of a coffee shop doesn't always cut it," she said. "Working out of difficult conditions is just less professional."
Ferguson says the space will be "very beneficial" for the community.
A recent $250,000 grant from Google helped the project get off the ground.
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