Industry Coworking adds to NC Music Factory’s “Silicon South”
Editor’s note: The “Who works here?” series continues.
NC Music Factory is a melting pot of entertainment and food. And, as it shakes out, offices. Just beyond the entrance to OGGI Ristorante Italiano is a locked set of double doors separating the party people from the coworking people.
When you shove all of the tables (and couches and chairs) aside in the main room at Industry Coworking, according to Ford, the space can comfortably hold 125 people for an event. “We love doing that kind of stuff here,” he said.
Which is why Industry was the location for the September #WeLoveCLT event with Chef Alyssa.
Industry is also the office location for about 30 larger companies and small businesses, and about 50 open-desk members. Not to be overlooked: it is home to a coffee bar complete with beans from Charlotte-based Enderly Coffee Company. And other amenities.
About half of the company members are tech-based, but there are also companies like BrewPublik, Elevate Lifestyle Magazine, Belles Creative, John Miller Law, Deal Cloud and Charlotte/One represented.
Carlos Paz of Fridayd said, “It is very laid back. You can tap into different resources here.”
Ford’s company Lightbulb Creative is among those office members.
He started looking into the concept of coworking in 2009 after letting off a travel-based retail career to focus on Lightbulb Creative. He perused options for an office space for himself and friends with other businesses in order to cut costs on rent.
He read about coworking on the West Coast. He knew of one other group in Charlotte that was in the formation process, which planned to call itself Collective Giant.
“Someone just has to stick their neck out and do it,” Ford said.
So he did it.
He established his first coworking space, Lightbulb Coworking, at 1427 S. Mint St. Three years later, they outgrew it and moved to 305 W. Morehead St., where they stayed for two years.
NC Music Factory offered him a game changer: 8,500 square feet to start with. The rebranded Industry Coworking started construction in January 2015 and wrapped it up in March.
Doubling as an event site, Industry naturally fits into the event-driven vibe of NC Music Factory. Noah Lazes, co-founder, president, and COO of the ARK Group, which oversees the development of NC Music Factory, is the one who reached out to Ford about space availability.
Since two software companies were joining the campus — AvidXchange and Web Full Circle in Silver Hammer Studios — Lazes said,”We had an opportunity to be Silicon South.”
“The creative young professional fits perfectly into entertainment,” Lazes said. “It’s all about, for these young professionals, live first, work second. … It’s a natural progression to add office and residential to the mix.”
(Did I mention a 205-unit apartment complex is coming?)
“These daytime happy-hour tenants help to support what will become a 24-hour city within a city,” Lazes said.
The Industry part of the city continues to grow, with construction underway in the 14,700 square feet of expansion space it just acquired near Label.
Luckily, Ford said, tenants generally embrace the construction: “They share that scrappy, do-it-yourself mentality.”
Besides, there’s a good view.
This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 11:00 PM with the headline "Industry Coworking adds to NC Music Factory’s “Silicon South”."