Click Co+Work is open to the public for hourly, daily, weekly and month-to-month rentals.
Da Vinci Realty Owners Mark and Leslie Belsanti expanded their quest for downtown Flagstaff office space when they located, and then transformed, a larger-than-needed building into a coworking hub for themselves and a community of remote workers.
The Belsantis provide office space to about 20 companies (called members) operating from Click Co+Work, the facility they established in 2015 at 111. E Aspen Ave. Additional workspace is offered to day users and city visitors, and the Click Co+Work conference and private call rooms are available to the public for an hourly fee.
“We love all that downtown has to offer locals and visitors alike,” said Leslie Belsanti. “We wanted to be a part of it all. We finally found a perfect location that was larger than what our real estate company needed and we had always been intrigued with coworking spaces as we traveled.”
The pair focused on commercial and residential real estate before founding Click Co+Work and becoming members, as well as its owner/operator.
“We were inspired when we found our location,” she said. “We knew it would be perfect for our vision and give us the ability to provide something Flagstaff had yet to offer: a professional, fun and friendly office space with amenities to share amongst us all.”
In addition, a coworking facility provides its members with a sense of community, networking opportunities, knowledge-sharing and the potential for extra amenities – such as high-speed internet – which might not be readily available when working from home.
“Being in the commercial real estate market, as well as business owners ourselves looking for office space, we were attuned to the office needs of the community and wanted to create something that was needed [but] didn’t exist yet in Flagstaff,” she explained. “We were excited to be able to provide that service for da Vinci Realty and other small business owners, solo-preneurs and remote workers.”
Click Co+Work is open to the public for hourly, daily, weekly and month-to-month rentals. With no long-term commitments, services can be tried out for a day or a month.
“There are so many people living in Flagstaff by choice because of the lifestyle, [the city] can provide while working remotely with large companies [that are] not located here,” she said. “It’s nice to bring facets of our community together in one location: everyone with a different set of daily tasks, but still with the drive to accomplish their to-do list.”
Another benefit to members is the venture’s affiliation with Proximity, provider of a software management program for workspace operators. Proximity’s team dropped in to check out the Flagstaff location in 2016, while seeking test locations for beta software.
“They were looking for 10 coworking spaces to test on,” Belsanti said. “I think we were Number Three. We’ve been in partnership ever since. We feel very blessed they walked through our doors six years ago. Proximity is a wonderful network to be a part of. There’s value they provide to allowing smaller spaces to be part of something that is bigger than we can be on our own.”
Click Co+Work also has a connection to Prescott’s WingSpace Coworking, dating back more than three years, when WingSpace’s previous owner, Melanie Banayat, first explored coworking. WingSpace’s new owner, Heidi Lekan, assumed operational control in January, while Banayat has undertaken a mini farmstead venture.
Click Co+Work’s members have developed both professional and personal relationships,” Belsanti explained. “One of the neatest things I’ve noticed is the camaraderie that develops between the individual members. Besides the natural business relationships that have come to fruition by being part of a coworking space, so many friendships have formed, camping trips have taken place, mountain bike rides, coffee, lunch and happy hour dates occur. That is personally my favorite thing to watch and see happen here.”
Leslie Belsanti grew up in the Phoenix area and graduated from Northern Arizona University, later working in the resort industry in Michigan and development in Sedona, before entering the real estate field. Mark Belsanti began his commercial real estate career after relocating to Sedona in 1991. Prior to that, he had been a commodity trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and later traded three commodity exchanges in the World Trade Center in New York.
She cited a service orientation, flexibility, being available for members and listening to wants and needs as key to the couple’s overall business success. In response to wants and needs, new private office suites have just been added. Visit clickflagstaff.com for more information or a private tour. FBN
By Sue Marceau, FBN
