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For Hub City Times

MARSHFIELD – Although the concept of “co-working” has been popular in bigger cities for many years, the Blodgett Haus Office Community may be Marshfield’s first.

Co-working environments are shared office communities where individual spaces are available for rent. Often, they feature open floor plans where freelancers, remote workers, and entrepreneurs can rent a desk or office for work and be surrounded by other professionals in related or unrelated fields.

These environments provide opportunities to work in a professional environment without the responsibilities of maintaining and paying for a traditional office. They allow more privacy than working from a coffee shop, and more professionalism than working from home. Co-working spaces offer a collaborative and social environment, which can be beneficial for those who currently work alone.

“We are super excited to get some neighbors,” said Christopher Howard, executive vice president of Browns Living, the company that owns Blodgett Haus and houses its corporate offices there.

“When we renovated the building a few years ago, we knew we created more space than we needed. I can’t wait to see the empty offices filled with other professionals and business people like us.”

Co-working office community concepts are designed to improve focus and efficiency for business people. “The monthly rent includes coffee, office supplies, printing, paper, utilities, maintenance, furniture, and more,” said Howard.

“We tried to eliminate all the little annoying things that steal productivity. Business people don’t want to spend all day shopping for paperclips or fixing printers. They want to stay focused on their businesses.”

The Blodgett Haus office community is part of a greater trend of business professionals in Marshfield moving downtown. Simplicity Credit Union and Fairway Mortgage are currently renovating large buildings downtown to create office space. Other professional services such as financial advisers, attorneys, accountants, and nonprofit organizations have recently opened new locations downtown.