By Christine Graf
During the past decade, coworking spaces have become increasingly common throughout the country. These shared workspaces allow individuals to rent office space on an as-needed basis.
As more people transition to working remotely, coworking spaces are becoming even more popular. They afford remote workers with an alternative option to working from home.
Hangr Coworks, a new addition to the Capital Region’s growing coworking market, is located at 800 Route 146 in Clifton Park. For co-founders Christine Smith, Juergen Klingenberg, and Matt Cummings, this is not their first collaboration.
Klingenberg and Cummings have worked together the past 17 years and co-own Flight Creative Group.
“We opened riplEFX in 2020, and we run networking groups, workshops, and teach people how to network intentionally. riplEFX will play a role at the coworking space,” said Smith, a former financial advisor who has worked in marketing for 17 years. “Every one of our memberships includes access to a (virtual) networking group that people can go to once a month.”
Network group members live both locally as well as throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. By participating in these groups, professionals are able to share knowledge and advice within many different arenas. There are networking groups in everything from finance to theft protection.
“It gives people a place where they can be supported and take more risks and where they can have a team of people behind them that have skills, experience, and connections that they are willing to share,” said Smith.
Hangr Coworks offers a wide array of tiered membership options for open seating, exclusive desks and private offices. All membership levels include access to the riplEFX networking platform.
“Our membership levels start with a day pass. We also have an option for people to pay for five days a month, 10 days a month, and full coworking” said Smith. “We also have office suites which can hold up to four people, and we also have a mobile option for people who are just looking to have an address. That gives them a business address as well as access to the member base and access to riplEFX networking.”
The 6,700-square-foot Hangr Coworks space features newly-remodeled offices, coworking spaces, lounges, meeting rooms and kitchen furnished with brand-new furniture. It contains 85 seats as well as conference rooms and podcast rooms.
“I don’t know of too many other places where you can rent a podcast room that has the equipment readily available to you,” said Smith. “Anyone that has an interest in running a podcast can come in and use our studio space which will have all of the necessary equipment. On top of that, if they want access to someone to edit it or help with the marketing component, we can also do that as well.”
The editing and marketing services are made available through Flight Creative, a full-service digital marketing company which was founded by Smith’s partners Klingenberg and Cummings.
Flight Creative is one of the tenants at Hangr Coworks and Smith serves as the company’s director of communications.
Smith will lead the Hangr podcast on which she plans to interview Hangr CoWorks members on a regular basis. This is just one of the many the perks that will be made available to members. They will also have access to what Smith described as a “concierge” desk manned by a dedicated employee. The concierge will function as a receptionist and have a desk stocked with everything from band aids to cough drops.
Tours of the facility can be booked through the company’s web site.
“I expect the space to fill up pretty quick because there’s no a lot of coworking between (Northway) Exit 8 and Exit 15,” she said. “Interest in coworking has grown in the past few years especially with COVID. Many people hate working from home and don’t do well working from home. They need to go into a space where they are able to be around other professionals.”
Daily passes start at $35. For more information, visit www. hangrcoworks.com.