News: eVenues---Short-term space anyone?

Cool Press Release from the Daily Journal of Commerce: 

By MARC STILES Real Estate Editor, DJC.com

Last summer two Seattle entrepreneurs launched an online company called eVenues that helps landlords generate at least some income from their empty space.

It is built around the concept of co-working. Here's how an eVenues' press release defines it: "a global movement of... remote work communities that allow professionals to come together to share their independent work experiences." The company connects landlords and prospective tenants who want short-term space, as in by the hour or day.

The company operates now in 56 cities across the country, offering what it says is one of the only online platforms for finding and booking co-working, meeting and event space. Spaces range from a loft for two workers in Chicago - yours for $5 an hour or $20 for the day - to a San Francisco conference room that goes for $119 an hour or $700 a day.

It's free to list properties. If they're rented, eVenues takes a 13 percent cut.

Co-founders Nic Peterson and David Jennings initially wanted to go national. Now, Peterson says, they're taking a step back. "We want to focus on our home town, Seattle, and hone the model before branching out."

They have a handful of venues locally, including Meadow Creek Professional Center in Issaquah, where customers can rent a four-person office by the hour for $10 and a boardroom for $30.

The goal is to go from eight to 100 venues here in the next couple of months. The challenge, according to Peterson, is finding fully equipped offices.

"The way eVenues works is we provide furnished rentals... Who pays for furnishing it? We are in the midst of talking and trying to trouble shoot that," he says. "It's a huge opportunity" for commercial office space owners.