coworking

Etan Horowitz of the Orlando Sentinel's weekly tech column, was at last night's CoLab Open House. Here's what he had to say.

Orlando Sentinel - A recap of the CoLab Orlando open house

Below is a video of Hussey, and Greg Pollack, a local web developer and one of the CoLab organizers, speaking about the space at last night's open house.

Location(s)

Cow-orking and collaboration for Central Florida's tech/creative community.

CoLab Orlando is the home for those wanting to have a home in downtown Orlando while collaborating in an environment built for innovation.

John Hussey, the owner of the historic Angebuilt Hotel building on Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando, has converted office space on the sixth floor of his building into a coworking spot.

Don't miss CoLab Orlando's open house August 27th at 6PM. There will be appetiers and beverages provided by Finn Henry's (the Irish pub downstairs), as well as a raffle for CowOrking space. But the main purpose of the open house is to get feedback and direction from the community on what they want out of CoLab.

CoLab is located at 37 N. Orange Ave - 6th Floor
Orlando, FL 32801

Please RSVP and send any questions/requests to info [at] colaborlando.com

Reposted from a message on the international Coworking discussion list:

...we recently opened a coworking facility in Miami's Wynwood Arts District. Brikolodge is a loft unit in a live-work building, home to design shops, galleries and some of the best views of downtown from the roof-top pool. We have been hosting RefreshMiami meetups since our inception and we have recently opened our doors to The Figure Network - a local artist who conducts weekend workshops on figure drawing and has also posted some of his artwork around the facility.

We are always looking for more ways to expand our community. If any of you are ever in the Miami area, please stop by and visit :) Check out our website: www.brikolodge.org

Plucked off the wire via NFi Studios' latest update:

NFi is working with other techs and creatives in the community to support the launch of CoLab Orlando. CoLab Orlando is a Coworking Space for anyone looking to have a dedicated work area (desk or suite), and be part of a community environment. CoLab Orlando is located on the 6th floor of the Angebilt building and is a work in progress. The tradition of the Angebilt, Orlando’s most historic building, combined with the innovation of Orlando’s tech and creative talent, make CoLab an exciting project we can all share in.

Owner of the Angebilt, John Hussey, is calling on the communities feedback and support…
“Over the past several years I’ve seen the Orlando tech & creative community really emerge. As a commercial real-estate owner, I am proud to be part of Orlando Coworking. However, I know it’s not my vision that will make this space successful. CoLab Orlando is founded the community’s support and feedback. I ask for your feedback in what you want from CoLab Orlando, and with your support we will make this a success for our city. ”

- John Hussey, President/CEO, RealTrend Inc.
For more info on getting involved with CoLab Orlando, contact Sterling (sterling@nfistudios.com) or Dave (david@hydrastudio.com)

FYI, the Angebilt is the same building as the April BarCamp - at the corner of Orange Ave and Wall Street. It's a historic hotel, as well as the current home of the Downtown UCF Technology Incubator, Subway, Finhenry's, and several Wall Street venues. Easy access to the Library, lots of downtown eateries, bars, clubs, hangouts, coffee shops and the like. I couldn't think of many better places for Orlando's first official full-time 24/7 cow-orking space.

I got an email today through a local creative named Tiffany - she asked about shared office space.

In my reply, I pointed her to the Orlando Coworking Wiki page on the Official Coworking Wiki and here on FLCreatives Wiki.

Obviously, you've got to know about the coworking mailing list as well.

Coworking is cafe-like community/collaboration space for developers, writers and independents.

Or, it's like this: start with a shared office and add cafe culture. Which is the opposite of most modern cafes.

When & Where

Currently, Orlando Coworking meets every single Tuesday during the day at Stardust Video & Coffee off of Corrine Dr, betweeen Baldwin Park and 17-92.
1842 E Winter Park Rd, Orlando, FL 32803

A home page for coworking orlando, on the official coworking wiki.

Over on the Orlando Sentinel Theatre blog, there has been a recent discussion about how to get Orlando's Theatre (and theater) community together. They decided on having a pot-luck dinner in a local theatre space, namely Mad Cow. The date is April 6th at 7PM, the same day as BarCamp Media Day, one hour after our event wraps up, right across the street from our event.

Every month, tons of events happen in Orlando. We post lots of them on this site, and sometimes people attend. This month, our group or our members are planning some cool things:

• Florida Creatives @ Enzian FilmSLAM (2008/03/09)

Creative TreeHouse is creative coworking studio that offers shared creative space, a meeting/event spot, and creative services to the Pittsburgh, PA area. This video is from an event they held some time ago where artists stayed up for 24 hours in the space and created original works from scratch around the theme of "Treehouse".

One of the goals of Florida Creatives is to open a similar space in Orlando. We can't do it without your help.