March 16 - Cowork Steuben invites local businesses

“The coworking space has been designed to be a facility that has a wide variety of options,” said Isaac Lee, executive director of the Steuben County Economic Development Corp., which operates the facility at its headquarters at 907 S. Wayne St.

Although $10 day passes are available to guests, it is most cost-effective to have monthly memberships.

“We really want to eventually get more folks more on the monthly basis process because it’s where you get the most value,” Lee said.

The cost of buying a week-worth of the day passes for five business days is equal to the monthly basic fee, which is only $50 a month, and which along with all the features available for a day pass users also includes 75 credits for the conference room or the podcast studio use.

For $100 a month on the plus mode the customers can get 200 credits for the conference room and podcast studio use. Credits can be applied to the customers’ accounts on the Cowork Steuben app that can be downloaded through any application store.

“These credits will be applied to your account, and essentially these credits are used for your booking the additional spaces that we have within the coworking space,” Lee said.

A credit is equal to $1, and 50 credits cost $50, but the SCEDC has further discounts for those buying more. The cost of 100 credits is $90, while 150 credits will cost the customers $130. Members receive an additional 20% off credit purchases, reads the flier of the cowork.

“That’s why we want the folks to work toward those membership models, much like a gym membership to where you can go and use the space at any time you want,” Lee said.

Conference room costs 25 credits an hour, and the podcast studio can be booked for 40 credits an hour. For both accommodations 24-hour advance booking is required, said Lee, to prevent overlapping books and the private space opportunities are distributed evenly.

He explained that for the podcast studio the corporation collaborated with Tom’s Donuts owner Todd Saylor. The space provides access to equipment for marketing materials, video and audio creation. One of the walls of the space is a green screen that provides for a backdrop for virtual reality. Two of the walls have whiteboards on them.

“The environment allows you to use all four walls to that podcast room to create that type of marketing or sales, or any other type of media,” said Lee.

The conference room offers additional amenities for virtual meetings, and it allows for leadership training and other types of collective activities.

Private spaces with Cowork Steuben also have their own private Wi-Fi. All internet connections provide high uploading capacity.

The customers can also use the hot water in the area for serving themselves quick meals, such as a cup of noodles. The phone booth option allows you to make phone calls even when there are other people in the cowork.

The space is open 24 hours a day Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to noon Saturday.

The space opened its doors in January for the SCEDC customers and partners, and individuals on non-membership basis, but it was originally targeted for the sole proprietors and small business owners, Lee said.