San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Cisneros transforms dad’s print shop to workspace
“So many people have been there and went there to get their political ideas and support. People respected it because of the part it played in the community, and I want to return it to a similar role.”
Henry Cisneros
Former Mayor Henry Cisneros and a New Orleans company are transforming his family’s former print shop into a co-working space, which they plan to open early in 2020 — one of the first projects of its kind on the city’s West Side.
Launch Pad, a workspace developer, is renovating the 8,000-square-foot building at 2201 Buena Vista St. — onetime home of Munguia Printers, a hotbed in its day of political organizing and gossip.
“So many people recognize it. So many people have been there and went there to get their political ideas and support,” Cisneros said. “People respected it because of the part it played in the community, and I want to return it to a similar role.”
When Cisneros announced the project last year, he’d planned to turn the building into a tech workspace. But Launch Pad CEO Chris Schultz said the building will be open to entrepreneurs and startups of all stripes. The company offers workspaces, including desks, and privateoffice membership options, on a monthly, six-month or yearly basis.
“Technology and startups are a core and definitely an important part of Launch Pad membership, but we define our market as people working entrepreneurially,” Schultz said. “That also incorporates small businesses, freelancers, creatives and even professional services firms.”
Cisneros had planned to name the building The Shop Workspaces, and while the new partnership will change that plan, Cisneros said he still wants “The Shop” to be worked into the title as homage to what the business once was.
Launch Pad started in New Orleans in 2009 as the city continued to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. Companies that started in those original workspaces created 5,000 jobs, according to Schultz.
The company has since branched out to locations in New Jersey, Tennessee and California. San Antonio will be Launch Pad’s first site in Texas.
“We really look for partners like Mr. Cisneros who want to activate the neighborhood and use this as a great hub for engagement,” said Ann Driscoll, Launch Pad’s president and chief operating officer.
As the founder and CEO of Webhead, one of the city’s