CoWork Jax brings creative minds together

During his first visit to CoWork Jax, Mayor Alvin Brown exclaimed, “It doesn’t feel like I’m in Jacksonville!”
That is many people’s reaction when they experience the CoWork Jax space for the first time. The space on the top story of the historic Woolworth Building (at the corner of Main and West Forsyth Streets) is bright, open and modern, with no cubicles in sight. It buzzes with an energy that is rare in offices. By encouraging people with different experience and interests to intermingle – a graphic designer could be working at the same table as an accountant and a cupcake chef – ideas that could never be hatched elsewhere are born.
And once those ideas are hatched, CoWork Jax helps provide the connections and resources needed to build them into successful projects and businesses. For example, each month, CoWork Jax hosts a couple of events in support of the rapidly growing local start-up community. During fastpitch!, entrepreneurs have five minutes to present an idea to an audience of potential teammates and investors. The all-night Hackathon attracts developers, designers and more for a pizza, drinks and Red Bull-fueled work session. Hackathon teams have built products ranging from a politically parodying Magic 8 Ball iPhone app to a social platform for event planners and participants.
Everyday, CoWork Jax brings more and more smart, talented people into Downtown Jacksonville. In doing so, a new group of people discover the potential of the neighborhood and are becoming passionate about turning the Urban Core into the true heart of a city with 24/7 live, work and play activity.
In short, CoWork Jax’s ultimate goal is to be one of the best coworking spaces in the world and along the way help spread the word about what’s happening in Jacksonville.
Stop by and check out CoWork Jax any weekday from 8:30 am-5:30 pm or during Art Walk each month. For more information, visit coworkjax.com or follow them on twitter: @coworkjax.

• The buzz about CoWork Jax has been growing for over a year. Over 50 people showed up during a test-run in March of 2011. When the permanent space opened at the end of January this year, more than 200 folks attended the Grand Opening Celebration.
• CoWork Jax members range from architects to CPAs to human resources consultants to web and app developers… and more! They travel to work from as close as a block away to as far as St. Augustine.
• CoWork Jax memberships range from Basic ($25/month for access to all member events and a free day of coworking) to Full-TIme ($229/month for 24/7 access to the space) to Innovation Suites ($849/month for a 3-person “office”).
• CoWork Jax has become the meeting spot for several groups in town, including AIGA (the professional association for design – aigajacksonville.org) and Ruby Jax (rubyjax.com).
• Currently, at nearly 50 members with capacity for approximately 150 members, CoWork Jax has plenty of room for new folks to come and work with the community.
• What truly makes this amazing is the community that works at CoWork Jax; the space just happens to be pretty great too. Composed of people from industries across the spectrum, the spirit of collaboration and innovation makes up the heart of CoWork Jax.