Design group prepares collaborative workspace for small businesses

PALMER — Upgrades to the Sustainable Design Group building downtown could change the face and feel of business in the Mat-Su Valley.

Last fall, SDG Principal Land Planner Eric Morey and his associates had a vision for a collaborative workspace housed within their office building. It would service up to 40 small businesses with phones, desks and networking opportunities.

That space is now taking shape as “The Annex,” complete with office space and conference rooms for rent, a sizeable open meeting and working area, a bookstore-like “nook” for more relaxed conversations, a kitchenette, a woodshop, a classroom with video teleconference capabilities, and more.

Individual, locking offices will each contain a phone, a desk, two chairs, a side table, a white board, a corkboard, a bookshelf and a file cabinet. All a businessperson need bring is a computer, Morey said.

“It’s as transient as it wants to be, or it’s as permanent as they want it to be,” he said.

But “the idea really isn’t that you stay here forever,” he said.

The Annex will offer a variety of rental options, ranging from one-day open space use for $15, to a windowless dedicated workspace for $325 a month, to a private window office for $525 per month.

While the latter might seem a bit lofty for room rental, Morey said users won’t just be paying for space.

“You come here for the energy,” he said.

Morey compared the Annex to business incubators, which supposedly help start-up companies move forward, but don’t always foster the sort of professional and social networking opportunities he imagines this new space will offer.

“You’re paying more per square foot here because you’re getting much more with it,” he said.

Specifically, he said, benefits include: immediate access to 10 to 15 associates from different small businesses on a given day; special Annex blend coffee from Alaska Coffee Roastery; and an in-room office manager to sort mail and handle upkeep of office equipment, just to name a few.

“Basically it’s a one-stop shop for business,” Morey said.

Standing in one of the offices, he indicated the difference between the room a business would technically be paying rent for and the space that really brings in the bucks.

“You don’t make your money in this office, you do your work in this office — you make your money out there,” Morey said, gesturing to the main, open office area.

Ptarmigan Ptrails, a trail construction company run by Ed Kessler and Brian Vaughan, is one of four businesses, Morey said, that has already secured office space as a step up — and a step out — of their home offices. Kessler’s wife, Erin, will be sharing space with Ptarmigan Ptrails to do graphic design for her business, Long Point Creative. Alternative Solutions, a contracting/design/architecture company birthed by SDG, will fill another office.

But Morey hopes the Annex will appeal to bigger business as well. Corporate and legislative membership packages are available to potentially provide companies with valuable training space, or cut costs for legislators flying their constituents to Juneau when they could be giving testimony via videoconference from a hometown workspace.

The Annex would also be a good option for Valley residents who commute to Anchorage, Morey said. If the weather is bad, for example, they could stay “home” and work from Palmer, he said.

Morey said SDG expects the Annex to be complete by the end of April. On-street parking is basically all that is available for Annex members right now, he said, but SDG is currently negotiating additional parking space for the Annex nearby.

The Annex and SDG office is located at 247 S. Alaska St. in downtown Palmer.

For more information about the Annex, visit valleyannex.com or facebook.com/MatsuAnnex.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.