The future of co-working spaces is female—with a serene private room for nursing (or napping), daily yoga and meditation classes, and regularly scheduled mother/daughter wellness workshops.
ModernWell opened this week in Minneapolis, in a 5,200 square-foot building that most recently housed Baby Grand, just off I-394 and minutes from downtown. If you’ve shopped there, for baby gear, or when it was Sofas & Chairs, you won’t recognize the space, which has been stripped down and modernized to feature a sun-drenched collaborative area complete with white faux fur throws on the arm chairs by the fireplace. Around the perimeter is a ring of private meeting rooms and individual offices—most of which are rented. Fifty women have already joined ModernWell, from freelance writers to company owners like wood furniture designer Brianne Boettner, whose Timber & Tulip tables decorate the space.
ModernWell founder Julie Burton is the author of The Self-Care Solution—A Modern Mother’s Essential Guide to Health and Well-Being. A mother of four and longtime freelance writer who also teaches writing workshops (and yoga!), Burton says she knows how isolating it can be to work at home. But co-working spaces like COCO felt a bit too male-centric and technology focused for her taste. She was inspired by The Wing, a New York co-working community for women, which recently received $32 million in funding from WeWork, the leading national co-working company. WeWork opened its first Minneapolis office space at downtown's Capella Tower in October.
“My mission is to provide a space for women,” Burton says. “Not just to work, but to take care of themselves. To do your best work, you have to take care of yourself.”
ModernWell memberships start at $185 per month and go up to $850 for the two largest offices. In comparison, COCO memberships start at $99 for limited access and cost $220-$330 per month for access to private meeting rooms, which are included in a ModernWell membership. ModernWell membership also includes access to a podcasting studio, yoga classes in the lower level studio, seminars ranging from business topics to personal wellness and networking. Coffee, tea, and parking are free.
The first of a new breed of collaborative work spaces in the Twin Cities, ModernWell will soon have competition from the Coven, another co-working space for women, which is scheduled to open in the North Loop in February. Founding memberships to the Coven are currently available for $1,800. That's a $400 discount off the $2,200 annual price.
