Carmel’s The Brookfield Group is teaming up with The Speak Easy, a nonprofit collaborative space, to create what would likely be Carmel’s first coworking space.
Platform 24, 12400 N. Meridian St., will celebrate its launch on April 13.
Two Carmel residents, Daniel Abdallah, the chief technology officer for The Brookfield Group in Carmel, and Speak Easy member and CEO of Archon Tech Strategies Tony Unfried, are the co-founders of Platform 24, which aims to create an environment for entrepreneurial innovation.
“I was always hoping there would be something in Carmel,and so I was excited to hear about Daniel Abdullah’s plans,” Unfried said. “We’re excited to bring this space to Carmel, and we think it’s a perfect fit.”
In March 2015, Old Town Design Group announced plans for a 20,000-square-foot coworking space that would have included a public café featuring coffee and cocktails. It was to be called Edison Business Lounge and would have offered 40 to 50 private offices around 50 other alternative desk spaces. Old Town partner Justin Moffett said the idea isn’t dead and he’d like to have a coworking space in Midtown at some point, but for now those plans are on hold.
Platform 24 will be available to members of The Speak Easy, which is Central Indiana’s first coworking space and has existing locations at The Speak Easy Broad Ripple, The Speak Easy Downtown Indianapolis and zWORKS in Zionsville. The Speak Easy is an independent member-based, non-profit organization that was founded in 2011 to, “bring established businesses and entrepreneurs together in the spirit of growth and acceleration.” The Speak Easy member companies have created more than 1,500 jobs in the Indianapolis area.
Unfried said members will be excited about Platform 24’s new space. There will be seating for up to 60 people in open coworking areas including 30 at adjustable desks. There will also be 70-inch mounted televisions, two conference rooms, a commercial printer and a kitchen for use by members.
Unfried said there’s so much interest already that expansion is already a possibility. He noted that coworking spaces are great for providing low overhead for new businesses starting out and to connect entrepreneurs with like-minded individuals to collaborate. He said Carmel’s future corporate headquarters could be born in these kinds of coworking spaces.
For more information on Platform 24, visit platform24.co.
