Washington
- At telecommunications giant Verizon, massive buildings that used to be filled
with bulky computers, copper cables and other gear are sitting vacant, as
advances in fibber-optics and computers cut down on the need for equipment
space.
The shift has rendered more than 80 percent of the company's
real estate footprint obsolete, spurring a $2 billion sell-off in property. Then
someone in Verizon's real estate department happen to take notice of the recent
boom in co-working spaces, in which start-ups, freelancers and some larger
companies pay to co-locate together in castoff office space or other underused
buildings.
The telephone company saw a connection. The result is
"Alley, powered by Verizon," a co-working space slated to open on
June 29 in Washington.
The company hired local artists to bring a sense of hipness to rooms once
filled with telecommunications equipment and even kept a retro feel by
preserving a room full of ancient mainframe computers. Verizon is collaborating
with Alley, a New York
co-working space operator to run the space and share in the revenue.
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More than a real estate deal, Verizon executives hope to
benefit from a different kind of networking. "To us, the real value is
what we get by bringing entrepreneurs into the building and having them meets
our folks," said John Vazquez, senior vice president and head of global
real estate at Verizon. "We realize that things will be invented outside
of Verizon and we want to be a part of that."
Vazquez says his team has identified 150 Verizon-owned locations
along the East Coast that could be converted into co-working spaces "if
the market and community is there." The company has a request for
proposals open for a co-working space in Singapore, suggesting it has global
ambitions for the project.
Verizon's partner, Alley, is trying to position itself as a
more exclusive option to established brands like WeWork, closely vetting
potential tenants based on what they'll bring to the community. Would-be
members go through an extensive interview process that is not unlike applying
for a new job or joining a fancy New
York apartment building, and only about one out of 10
applicants are accepted.
"We do it to protect the integrity of the
community," said Alley founder Jason Saltzman. "If you don't want to
be collaborative with the person next to you then this is probably not the
place for you."
Saltzman calls it a "curated community" of
professionals, who enjoy the amenities of a large company with the freewheeling
vibe of a tech start-up.
And it's not just a place for technology companies. Sarah
Ribner, whose company PiperWai sells a charcoal-based deodorant, joined one of
Alley's New York
spaces at the beginning of 2017. She appreciates that she can bring dog Cloe,
her Australian Shepherd, to work with her.
Alley's DC debut is shaping up to be a little more formal
than that. The wall art in one of the conference rooms shows two converging
lines pointing upward, vaguely reminiscent of Verizon's signature "check
mark."
An open space decorated with a mural will be used for
regular talks given by Verizon's business leaders and technologists. One of the
firm's first events in the space will probably be a "pitch night"
attended by members of Verizon's technology venture arm.
"Yes, its party space, but we're Verizon, so we like to
keep it a little more professional," said Verizon co-working lead Nick
LiVigne.
In the DC area, Verizon is stepping into a market for
start-up real estate that may already be oversaturated. There are at least
three other co-working spaces operated by competing companies within two blocks
of Verizon's planned space.
Co-working giant WeWork has been aggressively expanding its
presence in Washington
in recent years to eight locations with at least 8,000 desks. WeWork declined
to disclose its vacancy rates on newly-opened stores.
Co-working is not expected to be a big revenue-driver for
Verizon, which makes more than $100 billion annually from its primary lines of
business. The company said it plans to charge between $300 and $500 per month
to tenants for their most basic membership option.
WASHINGTON
POST