Advent Coworking opens space in Plaza Midwood with 27 members already signed up (26 photos)

Advent Coworking has opened a shared office space in the Belmont/Plaza Midwood neighborhood at 933 Louise Avenue (close to Intermezzo). Advent co-founders Ryan and Kevin are obsessed with building community and unlike many other coworking spaces around town, there are no private offices at Advent.

Advent Coworking’s official grand opening party is Saturday, November 7 at 7 p.m. and will feature live music, food, Birdsong beer and art.

Come join us for our opening party!

A photo posted by Advent Coworking (@adventcoworking) on

Membership information & other fast facts

• Founders are Ryan Mitchell (currently runs TheTinyLife.com) and Kevin Giriunas (formerly at TIAA-CREF).
• Pricing: $149/month for a flex membership (choose any open desk) and $249 for a dedicated desk. The flex membership is the most popular plan. Lockers are available for storage. View plan details here (includes coffee, 5 hours/month of event/conference space, etc.)
• Day passes can be purchased for $20/day.
• Free on-site parking.
• The space currently has 27 members and Kevin told me it could comfortably hold “at least 60 people.”
• Current member professions include: life coach, web designer, IT consultant, developer, designers, writers, etc. Kevin and Ryan “love the range of people and backgrounds.”
• The space is 4,700 square feet and has 24/7 access with amenities that include two conference rooms, a 75-person event space, a podcast studio, outdoor patio with Wi-Fi (currently under renovation), kitchen, personal lockers, dedicated work zones, creative community events and “bomb-proof” Time Warner Cable Internet with IT support from LMK Consulting.
• Multiple private phone booth rooms.
• Custom created tables from WCG Custom and mid-century furniture and carpet tiles from Interface.

• Free yoga and occasional office massages.

The outside looks like your typical old school factory. Probably because that’s what it was. 

Here are the plans.

Founders Kevin and Ryan. Kevin told me that he has just left his job at TIAA-CREF to work on Advent full-time. Both are excellent, high-character Charlotteans. 

As we talked, Kevin was pounding coffee even though is was late afternoon. Loved chatting with these guys.

Nothing like another Saturday spent painting… Almost done and ready to open this place!

A photo posted by Advent Coworking (@adventcoworking) on

Podcast studio, meeting & event space

• Kevin: “The podcast studio contains all the equipment for two or more people to create and record a podcast. All the equipment will be plug and play into a custom table (it will be really sleek/minimalist design). It will be $20 an hour to leverage the room and equipment. We want to create a podcasting hub in Charlotte, so we’ll be leveraging our event space and podcast studio for workshops, classes, and meet ups to discuss and learn about podcasting.”

• Don’t know exactly what this means, but podcasters may understand… Co-founder Ryan told me the parts list includes: “Heil PR40 Mics; Heil Boom Arm Mic Stands; Zoom H4N Audio Recorder; Behringer Xenyx 12 channel Mixer; Integration with iPad, iPhone, and external audio sources for theme music/effects; Mix minus setup for Skype guests.”

Let’s take a look around the space…

Future home of a killer front patio.

Spacious. Industrial cozy. Fresh everything. 

Serves Enderly Coffee.

Shared conference room. Chairs are sneaky comfortable even though they look crazy.

Event space. Yes, it has a swing. Separate entrance so that events attendees don’t have to walk through the coworking space.

Phone booths.

Podcast studio.

Members will have their names and faces posted.

Calendar of events for the week.

Bluetooth access control system called VIZpin. Very cool.

Separate entrance that leads to the event space. 

Sticky new wall.

Ducks will be used as an “I’m in the zone, don’t talk to me” signal. 

Seats are sneaky comfortable. 

Identical men’s and women’s restroom. One each.