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The collaborative meeting spaces and offices of Impact Hub have made their way into Santa Barbara — coffee and Internet included.
People and organizations can rent out the rooms, offices and desks via a monthly membership fee, said Dan Ferrick, a co-founder of the new location.
Impact Hub was founded in Europe and maintains locations around the world, including ones in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley.
The Santa Barbara location isn’t a franchise, Ferrick explained, but was founded separately as part of the greater Impact Hub network and is allowed to use the organization’s name and branding. The lead investor has been Paul Orfalea, the local philanthropist and founder of Kinko's.
After moving from Boulder, Colorado and seeing that Santa Barbara was lacking large, comprehensive “co-working, collaborative spaces,” Ferrick saw it as the perfect opportunity to fill a niche.
“There’s a lot of tech here, there’s a big startup community, there are a lot of entrepreneurs,” he said.
Additionally, a variety of community events, talks, demonstrations, activities and even corporate parties will be hosted on site.
Impact Hub Santa Barbara, located at 1117 State St., has three floors of personal work spaces, offices, conference rooms, and a tech lounge, along with a kitchen, an outdoor patio and, eventually, a small restaurant and bar named Satellite, which will serve both Impact Hub’s clientele and State Street.
Wine events and catering services on site will begin fairly soon, Impact Hub tenant Drew Cuddy, who is opening Satellite, told Noozhawk.
“Our biggest target market is people who are working in coffee shops or in their home office, and they need a sense of community,” Ferrick said.
“You need people to bounce ideas off of. There are also some business partnerships that are formed by coming to work, and you never know who you’re going to bump into.”
After signing up, Ferrick said, users receive an app that lets them into the building to use their space.
Right now, however, Impact Hub has its doors open all day for people who want to check it out.
