'Co-working' office concept launches in downtown Reno

A co-working project which positions itself somewhere between home offices and executives suites opened this month in downtown Reno.

As its name suggests, The Reno Collective also looks at itself as an avenue to generate social interaction and collaboration among workers in technical and creative fields.

The Reno Collective occupies about 1,500 square feet in the Cathexes building at 250 Bell Street.

Owners Colin Loretz and Ed Adkins say the collective offers two membership alternatives for folks who seek working space:

* Cafe space in which members have the use of table space the effect is sort of like a coffee house and gain access to the collective's wi-fi bandwidth, printer and free coffee.

* Resident space, in which members get their own desk and locked storage space.

Both sets of members have access to meeting rooms, a kitchen and workout facility in the Cathexes building.

Cafe membership, Adkins says, start at $150 a month. Resident memberships start at $350. A drop-in rate of $10 a day is available.

Along with freelancers and self-employed people who otherwise might be working at home offices or Starbucks locations, Loretz says The Reno Collective expects that some companies located elsewhere in northern Nevada will establish branch offices at the collective.

Fuze, a Web design and interactive agency headquartered in Sparks, for instance, uses the collective as a downtown Reno office, says Fuze President Bryan Landaburu.

And on one recent morning, most of the people at work in the collective were employees of Bay Area technical companies who needed a desk and bandwidth while they were in Reno.

Adkins says organizers of The Reno Collective also hope that the facility will serve as business incubator and community center for freelancers, allowing them to break out of the isolation of home offices.

Fuze's Landaburu, among the collective's first members, shares that hope.

"We want to support and be part of this community where we can share ideas and even collaborate on projects," he says.

Loretz and Adkins spent a year developing The Reno Collective, gathering ideas from co-working facilities across the country and scouting for suitable downtown property.

"These things have to be in heart of the city. Have to," says Adkins, saying they often draw substantial membership from the creative workers who seek out a new urban lifestyle.

Cathexes owner Don Bell was eager to land the collective in his building just south of the railroad tracks between Arlington and Keystone avenues.

"Cathexes actively said, 'We want your energy in our building," Adkins says.