Thomas MacMillan Photos
Grove co-workers Tigi Thomas and Slate Ballard.
An ancient black and gold cage elevator will once again carry you to the upper floors of 760 Chapel St., but you won’t find the fabrics and old-world charm of the Horowitz Bros. store up there anymore. You’ll find an array of new-media entrepreneurs bent over laptops.
That’s because the Grove co-working operation has expanded into the second, third, and fourth floors of the historic Ninth Square building.
Until 2004, the building was home to the Horowitz Bros. fabric shop, a New Haven institution for decades.
Now the first floor is occupied by a dollar store, and the floors above are occupied by the Grove. It provides work space and support for individuals and small start-ups that might otherwise be working from home or in individually rented offices. The co-working venture started less than three years ago a block away on Orange Street, where it still operates space.
The Grove last year was tapped by the governor to launch The Grid, a new “hub” for tech innovation in town. The Grid installed itself at 95 Orange St. and had a suitably high-tech “ribbon-cutting” ceremony there in February.
Then the Grove’s Slate Ballard heard about the availability of the space at 760 Chapel St. The Grove pulled out of 95 Orange, where it hadn’t yet signed a lease, and installed itself on Chapel this month.
History is inscribed in the sidewalk outside the Family Dollar.
As he offered a tour of the new digs this week, Ballard spoke about the Grove’s exponential growth over the last couple of years. Initially it was an experimental venture through Project Storefronts, which finds empty retails spaces for creative entrepreneurs, usually on a temporary basis.
The Grove started in a 1,400 square-foot space on Orange Street. It eventually grew to 3,800 square feet on Orange Street. It’s now more than double to a total of 8,400 square feet with the addition of 760 Chapel St.
The old Grove location is evolving into a space oriented toward digital-media companies. WNPR is looking into using the space, to be called “Grove Studios,” for some of its radio work.
The Grove has over 100 people working in both spaces, comprising over 70 co-workers, 10 private offices rented out, and five “private desk” rentals (one pictured). The last category is a new feature at the new space, allowing people to not just set up a laptop at a communal table, but to set up a more permanent desktop operation while still sharing some open space with others.
New arrivals at the Grove are greeted by a receptionist at the top of the stairs. The main room has a variety of tables, chairs, and movable panels covered with dry-erase whiteboards. The room is ringed with small offices and conference rooms (pictured) and has a kitchen area at the back for water-cooler conversations.
The space has large windows and high ceilings, but the acoustics have been carefully tweaked to keeps the sounds of collaborative conversations from bouncing off the walls to fill the air with din. Ballard said the Grove worked with Firehouse 12 recording engineer Eric Tate to calibrate the aural environment with acoustic tiles on the ceiling. The Grove also paid to put in hanging speakers, piping out quiet, work-friendly jams all day from above.
Giulia Gouge (at left in photo below), working on her social media marketing business, said her favorite thing about the new space is the elevator. Ballard said he’s been told it’s the oldest working elevator in the state.
She was sitting at a table with Glen McDermott (at right), who has a brand-building business. He said he likes the “cross pollination” at the Grove. He said he and Gouge often sit with three or four other entrepreneurs in similar fields, with whom they collaborate regularly.
Up a short flight of stairs and down a hall is a large function room, furnished with modular rolling tables and chairs.
From this room, the Grove has access to the roof, which features a wooden boardwalk. Gouge said she hopes to plant a potted herb garden on the deck.
The third floor has more permanent office spaces, as well as some of the new “private desks,” half of which were taken after only two weeks, Ballard said. He said the Grove strives to maintain a good balance between co-working space and private offices. “We don’t want to be an office park.” He said people could rent private offices in anonymous office buildings, but they rent at the Grove because they want to be part of the community there.
At the top of the building is a more attic-like work space where renovation is still being completed.
Where We Grove
The Grove still has its storefront on Orange Street, but that space is morphing into “Grove Studios.” It will be a “digital media hub” for entrepreneurs working on things like video, audio, animation.
WNPR, one of the state’s National Public Radio affiliates, is looking at becoming a part of Grove Studios, said WNPR’s John Dankosky. He said WNPR is “looking for a more visible presence in New Haven.”
“We’ve worked with The Grove in the past, including a live episode of Where We Live about start-up business that drew a standing-room only crowd to their space,” Dankosky said in an email. “We think their model for co-working, especially among media groups, is very exciting. As of now, we haven’t made any commitments, but we’re continuing to talk over the next few months.”
Dankosky declined to say specifically what form WNPR’s presence at Grove Studios might take, saying only that “we’re talking with them about a few different ideas.” He said WNPR doesn’t have any plans to leave its location on Audubon Street.
These guys continue to amaze me with their tradesman skills, tech skills, and nimbleness in business.