The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A place where creatives, entrepreneurs coexist
Middlesex chamber’s coworking space proposal seeks $35,000 in city funding
MIDDLETOWN — The city stands poised to move ahead on an innovative entrepreneurial concept proposed by key stakeholders, including the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce and Wesleyan University, that would bring a coworking space downtown.
Still in the planning stages, the Middletown Entrepreneurs Work Space, or MEWS+, is being spearheaded by Jeff Pugliese, vice president of the chamber, who will speak at tonight’s Common Council meeting to persuade councilors to approve $35,000 in seed money for the project.
“Support from the city of Middletown can be a catalyst for additional funds coming into the community,” Pugliese said. “If we are fortunate enough to secure the city’s support, we will then apply for additional support through a statewide network of entrepreneurs, mentors, service providers and others involved in helping Connecticut’s most promising startups succeed and grow.
“We’re essentially looking to take money pledged by Wesleyan, Middlesex Hospital and Liberty Bank to get the city’s support to really make that initiative sustainable — for a couple years at least,” Pugliese said.
Coworking spaces, many of which exist throughout Connecticut, provide members access to wi-fi, copy machines, storage space, discount parking, coffee, bike racks and even a business mailing address.
The chamber has offered its second floor, about 600 square feet, as MEWS+ headquarters, to initially get the project off the ground, Pugliese said. When available, he said, MEWS+ members would have access to things like the chamber conference room and videoconferencing. Eventually, Pugliese hopes, the group will find a larger suitable location downtown.
The number of coworking spaces around the world has increased by 400 percent in the past two years, according to Guilford Coworking. Connecticut By The Numbers reports 54 million people in the nation do freelance work — about a third of the U.S. workforce, an increase of 700,000 since 2014, according to a study published by the independent research
firm Edelman Berland.
In Connecticut, there are now an estimated 204,000 individuals who are selfemployed, more than 11 percent of the state’s workers, which exceeds the national average, Connecticut By The Numbers reports.
The state is already home to several of these enterprises, including The Grove New Haven, Upward Hartford, SONO Spaces in South Norwalk, Guilford Coworking and Axis 901 in Manchester.
Middletown Economic Development Specialist Thomas Marano has been involved with the project since the city applied for a grant last year through CTNext, a public/private network of entrepreneurs, mentors, service providers and others helping startups succeed and grow.
CTNext’s Innovation Places, an arm of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, combines entrepreneurship support and relationship building with physical planning and development, according to its website. These competitive three-year grants are substantial, Marano said.
Representatives of 25 entities, including the chamber, city, Wesleyan, Middlesex Community College, Liberty Bank and Middlesex Hospital, met ahead of the city’s CT Next grant application proposal to brainstorm.
Middletown wasn’t among the 12 that moved on to the semifinal round. “We got voted off the show,” Marano said. “CT Next funded cities that already had coworking spaces and entrepreneurial infrastructure and we didn’t have that.”
However, “We decided not to quit,” said Marano, who was laid off from Northeast Utilities before he came to work for the city of Middletown. He went into business for himself as a consultant at the time and used one of these coworking spaces for his office.
“I used to go there just to get out of my house,” Marano said. “I could spend $25 week, sit at a couch or an easy chair to work, have coffee and attend free training programs,” he said. “Working somewhat independently..., you could have entrepreneurs around you. I could pay $100 week and get my own desk in a quiet room. I could pay a little more to get a micro office, or some suites at market price,” Marano said.
Part of the plan was to have the chamber offer meet-ups for business professionals. The first was held Aug. 29 at the Central at 363 Main St., the Webster Bank building. “We thought we’d get 20 — we got 60” participants, Marano said.
Then Wesleyan offered $25,000 toward the project, which is conditional on the city matching it, and Liberty Bank and Middlesex Hospital also pledged funds.
“The object is to prove that we have a big enough group of people who want to meet in a place to be able to network and to build an innovation community, then go back to CT Next and say, ‘Here is the community, here was the plan that we have submitted,’ and hopefully, they will fund some more of that,” Marano said.
Other communities, like Meriden, whose projects weren’t chosen by CT Next, are mobilizing their nonprofit and business communities in preparation for next year’s awards, Marano said. “We want to prove we didn’t get the money we should: ‘Here we are.’”
On Oct. 11 from 4:30 to 6 p.m., the chamber will host a “5 Minute Solution!” session that will include networking with local entrepreneurs, an introduction to the chamber’s new Entrepreneur Council and discussion of MEWS+. The event is a part of the day-long Connecticut Connections Business Showcase at the Radisson Hotel Cromwell, 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell. For information, see middlesexchamber.com.
Today’s Common Council meeting will take place at City Hall, 245 de Koven Drive, at 7 p.m.