Yet thriving coworking spaces often require the full-time attention of a dedicated manager. “I’ve talked to people who are new to the region and are looking for something like that,” Charlesworth said.Many small business operators try to run a coworking space as a secondary stream of income, alongside their regular jobs. The chamber is working to develop a networking group for young, local professionals, she said, and the coworking space could be a good place for that group to meet. Lisamarie Charlesworth, manager of the Franklin County Regional Chamber of Commerce, called the coworking space “a really cool project,” and said that if enough people start using it, it could be a model for new, similar facilities in other parts of the county. The project also got support from a roughly $19,000 federal grant, Driscoll said. “And that doesn’t include any of the time that my husband has spent up here,” she said, adding that his background in engineering came in handy throughout the restoration process. Photo by Shaun Robinson/VTDiggerĭriscoll estimates that she has spent $150,000 on the project so far. Officials also hope the project will help draw people into their town of about 2,100.Ĭhrista Driscoll, pictured here on Monday, May 15, 2023, turned a 19th-century store in Fairfield into what is likely Franklin County's first coworking space. Ainsworth said the town is excited that the building, which has a prominent location at the corner of Route 36 and South Road, “is alive again.”
“It was struggling with some real structural decay,” said Cathy Ainsworth, the Fairfield town administrator.
It needed significant renovations, though, including a rebuilt foundation, a modern heating and cooling system and more efficient windows. When Driscoll bought the 3,200-square-foot building in 2017, she tried to keep many of its original details intact. It served many of those years as a general store and post office - “the center of town,” she said - before becoming an antiques and flower shop in the 1990s. Since 1830, The Brick Store has had at least four different owners, according to Driscoll. It also has several displays detailing the building’s history. The building’s main level, meanwhile, is a base for Driscoll’s stationery work, and she wants to host events there. She wants the coworking space to help people meet each other when they might otherwise work from home.
COWORKING SPACE DROP IN PROFESSIONAL
“There isn’t a lot for a local professional in a rural area like this,” said Driscoll, who grew up in nearby Fairfax and runs a small stationery business.
On Saturday, she’s set to host an open house to mark the project’s completion. Since then, she’s chipped away at a nearly complete retrofit of the 1830 structure, aiming to create what is likely the first coworking space in Franklin County. The Brick Store, as it’s known in town, was sitting vacant when Driscoll decided to buy it six years ago. “There’s so much history here,” she said on a recent morning, stopping to point out the carvings that dot the walls, the trapdoor that once brought in goods for sale. Photo by Shaun Robinson/VTDiggerįAIRFIELD - Christa Driscoll knows her way around every inch of this centuries-old brick building in the heart of Fairfield’s village center - both on the inside and out. The Brick Store in Fairfield, which is now home to a coworking space, picutred here on Monday, May 15, 2023.
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