River North shared office, Industrious opened today, welcomes media on Sept. 4 for tours

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Industrious, Chicago’s first “hive office,” opened its doors today to a diverse mix of tenants across Chicago’s high growth industries. Located in River North, Industrious is an attempt to redefine the modern workplace by catering to the economy’s fastest growing sub-sector, small businesses and startups with 1-6 employees. The concept is simple – bright, glass walled offices that give companies the privacy they need to drive productivity, situated within an open, collaborative loft space that creates the community and collaboration that drives innovation. Offices are rented on a month to month basis, allowing flexibility for growing companies that’s nearly impossible to find in today’s outmoded office market.

Located at 320 W. Ohio St in the historic Adlake Building, the space occupies a 10,000 square foot open loft previously used for movie and TV production. Built in rustic hardwood and glass, with creative lighting and recovered designer furniture, the space will demolish preconceptions of how an office should look. Most office sizes were completely reserved before opening, and Industrious is already beginning construction on additional space in the building to accommodate demand.

Member companies arriving this week represent an exciting mix of Chicago’s most innovative thinkers, including menswear line Blank Label, financial growth strategists Popskull, architectural design firm Bryne Design, bridal advisors Brideside, shoemaker Bone & Rattle, PR firm YL Communications, wedding social app WedSocial, digital brand management company Zlato Media, legal reps My Good Counsel and more. Though Industrious’ private offices are oversubscribed, the company is releasing a slate of co-working spaces starting at $400 a month, and members in Industrious’ co-working facility will be first in line as new private offices become available.

“People work better when they’re around other motivated people,” says co-founder Justin Stewart. “There’s so much inspiration here to motivate you, from the design of the space, to the collaborative nature of the setup, and the regular events we’ll be hosting. We like to think of it as a highly professional office space that open up into your favorite coffee shop.”

Each brightly-lit, glass-walled “hive” houses companies with up to 10 employees comfortably, with collaboration rooms, conference rooms, free WiFi, private phone booths, a kitchen, a full service coffee bar with Bow Truss coffee, printing services and complimentary mailroom.

“We feel quite certain that one day the hive office concept, which allows a host of companies to mix privacy with community in a uniquely flexible way, is going to be one of the dominant modes of work for small businesses,” says co-founder Jamie Hodari, “but for now, this is one of the only hive offices in the country. It’s exciting to be at the beginning of a new model for work, and we couldn’t be happier that we were able to do it in Chicago.”

Come visit us on Tuesday, September 4, 2013, our Media Day, to tour our beautiful new space and meet some of our tenants. We’ll be serving complimentary Bow Truss coffee from our coffee bar and snacks from Blue Sky Bakery.

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