I met with “Eli Malinsky” from the Centre for Social Innovation to talk about their expansion. I was lucky enough to have an unscheduled tour of Suite 400 (and I’m kicking myself for switching to the E61, I didn’t have a mobile camera to take some snaps). The space looks fantastic, it’s going to be a great place to have an office. It is different than Teh Citizen Space and Workspace. The space feels like it will be a cross between the existing Centre for Social Innovation space and The Hub. More office, less cafe (though there will be a green cafe in the space).
I wonder why Workspace feels like the one coworking facility that isn’t run by a consulting company or a real estate developer. There’s a lot of disclaimers on this statement like, the Centre for Social Innovation is not a real estate developer though they have a strong partnership with the Urbanspace Property Group which makes me think of them in this context. Teh Citizen Space is run by Tara and Chris as part of The Citizen Agency. The Hat Factory is run by a syndicate of geeks and media hackers (wow that makes them sound like secret agents). The Indoor Playground is part of the Creationstep keiretsu. Plan Resonate is run by a management consulting company. The Queen Street Commons started by silverorange and Reinvented. This thesis breaks down when looking at artist co-operatives. And maybe that’s the point that the softer secondary effects are more important in culturally driven industries, i.e., a cost sharing structure like ActivSpace.
Are these organizations that financially or culturally more than others from the creative tension between differing viewpoints? Is this further support of Mark’s innovation clusters hypothesis (or Richard Florida’s Creative Class)?
I digress. The Centre for Social Innovation is looking great. They’ve added an additional tour of the facility in early January to accommodate the community interest. This is a really great opportunity for a coworking space in Toronto.
The Centre for Social Innovation will be hosting a series of Information Sessions where we will share our vision, explain the office pricing options, show you the new space, and answer your many questions. The sessions will be held at our current facilities in Suite 120.
Please RSVP your attendance to Maria Pazo, Office Coordinator at [email protected]