The creative skills of a designer and the vision of a developer come together in an upscale co-working space that serves the increasingly complex needs of the business community.
From the first steps leading into OfficeLinx – up a custom-designed wood and glass staircase to a welcoming open office environment – it’s clear that this workspace is something out of the ordinary.
The new space is marketed with the tagline “co-working in style,” and OfficeLinx delivers immediately, with colourful desks, warm wooden floors, live plants, a vintage wall mural and modern lounge areas.
What sets OfficeLinx apart from other co-working set-ups is the on-site daycare, providing childcare for working parents…
The vibrant office is the vision of two local entrepreneurs – Jay Robinson, a designer and creative director, and property developer Dan Koomen – who have come together to create a comfortable, creative workspace that is home not just to one business, or even one industry.
The concept of co-working, where office real estate is provided by a host company and shared among subscribers, has been on the rise for the past 15 years as remote work and the gig economy have grown in tandem.
At OfficeLinx, co-working has come into its own. Here, entrepreneurs, small businesses, start-ups, remote workers and freelancers cross paths over coffee, networking and building business connections. They can even pick up and drop off their kids at daycare in the same building.
While touring guests through the warm, open area, you can sense Jay’s excitement. “It’s so good to finally be in here,” he says, grinning. OfficeLinx has been a long time coming. Dan first approached Jay with the concept over a decade ago, and the partners began working on OfficeLinx in early March 2020 – a tough time to launch just about anything. It’s been a slow road since then, as Covid shutdowns, supply chain disruptions and newly updated health and safety requirements shifted their schedules.
As it turned out, the pandemic also offered the opportunity to create a space to fit a society that was rethinking work culture and embracing remote work more than ever. After the hardships of the pandemic, Dan sees OfficeLinx as a necessary middle space between “heading back to the cluttered office in Toronto and sitting at the kitchen table waiting for the odd Zoom call.”
Though co-working has been embraced in larger centres, Jay and Dan created OfficeLinx to meet the diverse needs of a rural population, addressing issues ranging from winter weather’s impact on commuting to challenges with internet connectivity. The site’s location, close to Highway 401 on the western edge of Northumberland, makes it a convenient hub for the surrounding area, with day use and meeting availability serving businesses from Belleville, Peterborough, Durham and points between.
Morgan Gunter is a senior telecom technician who’s been working from his family’s home in Cobourg. His firm’s head office in Cambridge is too far for a regular commute, and the shared home office space often feels cramped. When OfficeLinx opened up, he jumped at the chance to work away from home for a few days every week.
“Working from home all the time gets a little repetitive and isolated,” he says. “It helps to be getting out, seeing some people, and it’s been a good networking tool. It’s great to be in an environment where everyone is focused on work.”
Dan and Jay’s familiarity with the challenges and benefits of working in Northumberland County inspired them to create OfficeLinx.
Dan grew up on Toronto Road, just a few blocks from the OfficeLinx site in Port Hope and has redeveloped a number of local buildings, including the former Dr. Hawkins School and the Legion, now transformed into a health centre.
Jay lives north of Brighton, where the perks of rural life compensate for sluggish home internet. He’s been running Creative Collective, a shared workspace for fine artists in downtown Cobourg for over five years.
Beyond hosting co-working desk spaces and private offices, OfficeLinx provides meeting rooms, a large presentation room, podcast studios and media suites. Also on offer are commercial mailing addresses and secure parcel delivery boxes, as well as a printing facility. A custom, in-house app allows members to book spaces according to their needs – the kind of flexibility that makes co-working spaces so attractive.
What really sets OfficeLinx apart from other co-working set-ups is the on-site daycare, providing childcare for members who are working parents as well as the wider community, in their brand-new, fully licensed facility. Jay and Dan were clear that they didn’t want to cut corners on this part of the project and devoted the same attention to detail here. “We want our staff to have a living wage, the kids to have good food, and we want to have a clean, fresh facility. So we’re going to do what it takes to make that happen,” Jay says.
The daycare – called KinderLinx – has even been designed to be as flexible for OfficeLinx members as the workspace is, with drop-in spaces available as needed for members, which is unique in Northumberland. “There’s no better sound than kids laughing,” says Dan adding, “I’m hoping the people who work here find it refreshing.”
The office tour ends in a space that could serve as a very large boardroom or a more informal presentation venue, for a trunk show or a speaking event. It’s another inviting feature that allows OfficeLinx members the opportunity to connect “in real life” with each other and beyond. “We really see this whole place as a community hub,” Jay says.
From the beginning, the name “OfficeLinx” was intended to draw connections between an office space and the community, and Dan and Jay are seeing that vision come to life. As the carefully curated space they have created fills in, the result is something they both take pride in: a growing sense of community – in the workplace and beyond.
Story by:
Meghan Sheffield
