Kansas City’s newest and largest coworking studio plans to celebrate its grand opening in style during Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Based in North Kansas City, iWerx’s massive 33,000-square-feet facility is now welcoming tenants into its swanky new digs that feature an array of amenities, most notably access to its ridiculously fast 10-gigabit Internet.
Built in 1929, iWerx’s facility previously was the regional headquarters for Kroger Grocers, but has since undergone significant renovation to become a modern facility. iWerx— located at 1520 Clay St. — features 33,000-square-feet of coworking, 38 dedicated offices, as well as a 4,000-square-foot event pavilion.
Combining a modern, open design with dark wood and custom metal accents, the facility aims to serve as a hub for entrepreneurs and businesspeople around the metro, iWerx partner Bob Martin said. Martin added that he expects the facility to be about 80 percent booked by year’s end.
The space offers access to such services as printers, mentors, business development, free Wi-Fi and more. iWerx also is working with KCFiber to offer tenants up to 10-gigabit speeds.
The firm partnered with EnCorps45 — an organization that promotes social entrepreneurship — to manage day-to-day operation of the facility. EnCorps45 will manage programming and development of the coworking space and create curriculum for an incubator. To enhance the curriculum, Martin said that iWerx is in conversations with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Metropolitan Community College and MidAmerica Nazarene University.
The Kansas City metro area features more than 10 coworking studios, but iWerx is now the largest in operation. Only two area coworking spaces — Think Big Partners and Lenexa-based Plexpod — have more than 20,000 square feet of space. Developers currently are working on what will be the largest coworking studio in the world with the Westport Commons project.
The company will welcome area residents to tour the space on Nov. 11 from 5 to 8 p.m.
Check out iWerx’s space with the gallery below.