Year Two for The Commons on Champa began with breakfast Wednesday, with food still available if you arrived well after the, ahem, 7:30 a.m. start time.
The city-owned space leased by the Downtown Denver Partnership launched last year and has become a resource for entrepreneurs and non-profits of all sorts — from food to technology. There’s not only free Wi-Fi and coffee, an open-work area is available to any users who drop-in between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday though Friday.
In the past year, the Commons also has added regular visits from officials with the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and other agencies. A satellite office of Denver’s Office of Economic Development is open there daily.
But really, it’s the meetings the site hosts — 240 events in the past year. Of those, 35 used Meetups.
“The Commons was never intended to create everything from scratch,” Downtown Denver Partnership CEO Tami Door said. “Our intent was to create a place, a public park, a town hall where you gathered and everybody brought the best that they had to offer. We are continuously seeking those that are already offering those programs to align with this place and elevate entrepreneurship in our communities across the board.”
Besides sharing success stories Wednesday — like Sitter, a babysitter-hiring app whose founders used The Commons meeting space to collaborate — Commons officials shared first-year numbers:
• Hosted 17,000 people for at least 240 events and programs — 83 percent were free to attend. (Cost to rent meeting space starts around $200. See price list.)
• Almost 25 percent of visitors came for Denver Startup Week events in September.
• The Innovation Lounge space has an average of 85 people dropping in to work each week
• New tenants include the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance and Manufacturer’s Edge.
•Denver’s Office of Economic Development had 101 meetings with Denver entrepreneurs between October and March.
• Its resources were cited in a recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce report, which ranked Denver as the number three city nationwide for innovation.
The focus this year is to attract more events and entrepreneurial resources aimed at women and veterans. A full list of upcoming events is at thecommons.co/programs-events
