Storefronts and a parking-garage bridge in downtown Evanston. Photo: Eric Fredericks from Rancho Cordova, CA, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
For people who work from home but would rather not work at home, Evanston offers a short list of places to rent a desk. Most sit within a few blocks of the Davis Street transit hub, and several arrived within a few years of each other. That makes the downtown shared-office market a useful, if small, measure of how local workers use space outside the traditional office.
Creative Coworking on Davis Street
Creative Coworking is at 922 Davis St. Listings on workspace booking sites describe a members’ space with open desks, dedicated desks, private offices, meeting rooms and event space, including a rooftop deck. One listing calls it woman-owned and mentions a small art gallery. Downtown Evanston, the business district organization, lists it among local businesses. Rates on third-party sites vary and change often, so anyone shopping should check the operator directly.
Regus at Orrington Plaza
Regus, the global office-space company, runs a center at Orrington Plaza, 1603 Orrington Ave., Suite 600. Booking listings show day offices, meeting rooms, private offices and coworking memberships there, with 24-hour access for private office and dedicated desk customers. The location is steps from Northwestern University and the Davis Street train and bus stops. The model differs from a local, owner-run space. A national operator offers standardized packages, and a member can use other locations in its network.
The 2018 Davis Street wave
In April 2018, the Daily Northwestern reported that a third new coworking space was about to open on Davis Street. This one was Industrious, at 909 Davis St., next to the CTA and Metra stops. It planned to open May 21, 2018, with about 70 private offices and a few shared areas. Industrious staff said it would be the company’s third Chicago-area location and its first real suburban one. Members would get free coffee and breakfast, weekly happy hours and networking events open to the community. The article named Creative Coworking and coLab as the existing Evanston spaces.
I could not confirm from the sources I reviewed which of those spaces are still operating in the same form, so this is a snapshot of 2018 plus current listings, not a census.
What the market suggests
Shared offices exist because some workers have no employer-provided desk and no wish to work from a kitchen table. They also serve small firms that need a meeting room a few times a month rather than a lease. Evanston has features that favor the model: a dense downtown, direct rail to Chicago, and a large university population. A freelancer or small business owner can reach several of these buildings on foot from the Davis Street station.
The cost structure is the other draw. A lease on conventional office space typically means a multiyear commitment, while a membership can run month to month or by the day. Listing sites show that range, from hourly meeting room bookings to monthly private offices, though the figures I saw came from aggregators and may be out of date.
The common thread is flexibility. As more people split time between home and an office, a seat near the train that can be rented for a day has become a standard part of the downtown mix. Anyone considering one should compare rates and terms with each operator and visit in person.
Sources: Daily Northwestern, 2018; Regus and workspace booking listings.
Daniel Okafor covers business, startups and the Innovators section for The Evanston Edge.
