The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Owners of small- and medium-sized businesses who don’t want to make a large investment in office space may have a new ally in the township.
PrimeWork, a company offering shared-space office solutions, has opened its first location at 100 Franklin Square Boulevard, off Davidson Avenue. The 28,000-square-foot space encompasses the entire fourth floor of the building, and features a variety of shared space offerings, from group desks to individual offices.
The idea is to “offer young startup entrepreneurs the ability to work in a nice, luxury environment with all the bells and whistles that come with it, at a relatively affordable cost,” said company CEO Avi Orlansky. “This way they can focus on their business without worrying about all the ancillary stuff, like setting up your WiFi and so on.”
The Franklin office space has free WiFi, seven conference rooms, a “phone booth” for those who just need a secure place to make a telephone call, and spaces for events and workshops, Orlansky said.
There are also mailing services and, if necessary, receptionist services, he said.
“Based on what their needs are, we build a contract off of that and we try to do whatever we can do on our part so they” have only to worry about their business, he said.
Prices for shared space range from $250 a month for a shared desk, $500-$700 for a private office and $2,500 to $3,000 a month for several combined offices.
Orlansky said companies that have signed up so far tend to be in the information technology and marketing fields.
He said the Franklin location was picked because “in my research I found that Franklin has been a very big hub for business-centric individuals.”
Other sites are planned for Jersey City, Parsippany and Brooklyn, N.Y., he said.
Mayor Phil Kramer, who attended the company’s Sept. 4 grand opening with Deputy Mayor Shanel Robinson, said that PrimeWork will be good for the township.
“We have a huge number of buildings with space for lease signs in front of them,” he said. “They are using the old model of a big office big corporation next to a highway. The Internet and more modern times has kind of put the kabosh on that type of thing.”
“This is a new model and it’s a great thing for Franklin,” he said. “It’s going to increase the ratable of the building and increase our non-residential tax base and bring the tax rate down for other people.”
“It’s a great move forward for Franklin and part of the general marketing plan that we have for the Davidson Avenue area.”
