Greg Beale (top right) and The Livery team (Nick Izzarelli, Sue Engle, Becca Lipski, and Jen Klein) at the new Livery CoWork space in April 2022. (Photo by Laura Hagar Rush)

UPDATE: The Business After 5 event at The Livery scheduled for this evening has been cancelled because some Livery team members have tested positive for COVID. They are rescheduling their Grand Opening to June 30th.

The Livery CoWork - the first facet of the much-watched Livery project to open to the public - is having a grand opening event this Thursday, May 26, between 5:30 and 8:30 pm. Been wondering what the Livery has to offer? Come take a look.

Livery CoWork is located in the stylish red and galvanized steel building on Burnett Street which formerly housed Persinger Architects.

The first hour of the event, from 5:30 to 6:30 pm, is open to Chamber of Commerce members as part of the chamber’s regular Business After 5 networking gathering, but the public is invited from 6:30 to 8:30 pm to get a look at the new co-working space. This will also be your first opportunity to see what the food will be like at Goldfinch, the restaurant that will be replacing K&L Bistro; they will be providing appetizers for the grand opening. (Goldfinch is scheduled to open to the public this summer.)

The Livery Co-work has been open on the QT since the Apple Blossom Fair in late April, but the company has been putting the finishing touches on the building throughout the month of May.  

“We're looking at this as phase one,” said Gregory Beale, The Livery’s developer.

Calling all coworkers – and the merely curious

Livery CoWork is divided into several different work areas: there’s an open desk area downstairs with privacy pods. Upstairs is a conference room and private offices.

Eventually, the company hopes to build a membership of about 40 co-workers.  

Beale says he hopes that many of the people who’ve been working from home will be eager to try out co-working, either because they’ve been feeling isolated or because they’ve found balancing work life and home life difficult while working from home.

“I have a five year old and a nine year old at home,” Beale says. “I've been working a lot from home the last couple of years. And it's wonderful, but it's also really tough; it's very distracting and it can be stressful because you're trying to balance the two.”

Membership levels

Livery Coworking offers several different membership levels:

• $100 a month gets you 32 hours per month and access to general seating. This membership includes access to high-speed internet, community support and networking, access to free public parking, and front desk support.

• $200 a month buys a 24/7 place at the sit-stand desks, high-speed internet, community support and networking, access to free parking, front desk support, and a virtual address for your business. This level also includes mail and package [c1] [c2] handling and eight hours per month of meeting room credits.  

• Need a little more privacy? $950 per month gets you your very own ventilated focus pod, complete with a sit-stand desk and ergonomic chair that is yours and only yours. This membership level gives you 24/7 unlimited access to the coworking space, high-speed internet, eight hours of meeting room credits per month, and access to the larger community. It also features two guest passes per quarter.

• The private upstairs offices, of which there are a limited number, start at $1,200 a month.

• ·         A Day Pass for the co-working space is $25. It’s good for one day from 9AM to 5PM, Monday through Friday.

All membership levels can take advantage of the Livery’s bottomless Retrograde coffee and tea. Beale notes that these are introductory prices.

Try it out

The Livery is offering a promo deal with Retrograde Coffee across the street: If you go to Retrograde and spend $20 during the month of May, you get a free day pass for the co-working space.

Beale says he hopes that a range of people with different professions and goals will find themselves at home at The Livery CoWork.

“I want this to feel like the living room of our community,” he said.

Find out more about The Livery CoWork here.