Notley’s Center for Social Innovation to Open in 2018

By Anca Gagiuc

Notley, a nonprofit and venture capital organization, announced that tenant opportunities are now available at The Center for Social Innovation—a community of nonprofits and social ventures gathered at Springdale General creative complex. The center occupies buildings 11-15 and consists of a 50,000-square-foot office campus and 10,000 square feet of co-working space. The venue is scheduled to open in the spring of 2018.

“Our goal with this project is to provide open, flexible and affordable office space that encourages collaboration within Austin’s social impact community,” Dan Graham, co-founder of Notley, said in prepared remarks. “The center is now accepting inquiries from tenants interested in working in the space with offerings ranging from a single desk to a stand-alone 10,000-square-foot building.”

Affordable Spaces for Collaboration

For the center to exist, Notley partnered with Springdale General and architect Michael Hsu. The property was designed to encourage interactions among participants and collaboration in public spaces.

The buildings on the campus are connected through walkways, covered entries and a large courtyard. In addition, tenants will have access to shared conference rooms, discounted meeting space and monthly on-campus programming. Central Austin Management Group is the project’s developer.

“The Center for Social Innovation is really the result of a community needs assessment. (…) Other common refrains included the lack of affordable meeting space and a concern that there were too few opportunities for collaboration. We realized that we could solve each of these challenges by creating The Center for Social Innovation” added Matt McDonnell, partner at Notley.

New Lease at Springdale General

Aside from The Center for Social Innovation, Caffe Medici leased space at Springdale where it will be moving its Austin roasting operations. The venue will also include several other restaurants, a potential bar, bike racks, Car2Go parking and ample outdoor gathering space. The area is close to the Friends and Allies Brewery and Austin Bouldering Project and has easy access to East 6th and Town Lake.

“I really think that in 10 years what we’ll have is an entrepreneurial area, or district, that’s centered in East Austin as a hub for socially-minded businesses in every stage of development,” said Graham.

Springdale General is a 15-building property with 165,000 square feet of commercial space located at 1023 Springdale Road in East Austin, along the Springdale Road corridor, near Airport Boulevard and just 10 minutes from downtown.

Images courtesy of Notley