For property managers Natalie Smith and Nikki Lawson, the question of what to do with a vacant 10,000 sq ft office space in the midst of a global pandemic was a challenging one, but not insurmountable. With good prospects for the space hard to come by, the two managers put themselves to work completely refitting it to be the home of an all-new line of business for Pearl and created Pearl Cowork. Building on Pearl’s strong design philosophies and incorporating the elements of the coworking format, they created a new space that can appeal to anyone looking to enter the entrepreneurial environment of a coworking office.
As more time passed during the new pandemic environment, it became apparent that the coworking space needed to cater to emerging needs in the marketplace. Pearl specializes in creating “plaza” spaces which cultivate human connectedness both outside in the green spaces as well as inside in workplace and living settings. A coworking space was a perfect way to create such connectedness between entrepreneurs and businesses while maintaining Pearl’s signature branding and plaza mentality.
When Natalie and Nikki looked at the needs of potential coworking members, they saw that alongside the need for a connected and growth-focused community was a pressing need for functional, up-to-date, and easily accessible technology. In this new age of virtual meetings and constant video calls, a fully outfitted conference room space would be a significant boon to a startup or entrepreneur, but such facilities can be prohibitively expensive to set up and maintain. As such, four fully outfitted conference rooms, complete with Zoom compatible video meeting systems, are integrated into both the coworking space and memberships.
Since opening on April 27th, it has been so energizing to see members using the space and connecting with each other. For Natalie and Nikki, it is all about building the community. Pearl is fortunate to have such caring and thoughtful leaders who gather and work in the common spaces and restaurants. Now, when they are ready to get serious in their collaborations and work or meet together in earnest at Pearl, they can have a place to call home which is built for transformational work.