Community, Collaboration, Creativity Fostered By Serendipity Labs Design

It seems inevitable that co-working spaces will become as ubiquitous as the Millennials entering the workforce, driving their proliferation. Co-working tenants derive tangible, bottom-line benefits from working in shared spaces that promote community, collaboration and creativity.

Initially piquing the interest of disruptive, young technology companies, the model’s now garnered attention from some Fortune 500s. General Electric, KPMG, Merck and the Guardian all have offices in WeWork locations.

Businesses, emboldened by these paradigm shifts and cognizant of their benefits, are generally demanding more flexibility in lease terms.

The Korth Cos has “been privileged to build out a few of these co-working spaces,” VP Jodi Korth said, “and we are pleased to turn over Serendipity Labs in Bethesda this month.”

Korth had the fortunate opportunity to build out the first tenant space in the Carr Properties-owned 4500 East West, where Serendipity Labs will soon open. 

This year, Jodi tells us, there were a lot of concurrent projects, putting numerous other contractors in the brand-new LEED Platinum building simultaneously.

Jodi said quality control is never neglected, but does become more of a challenge when other contractors are kicking up the dust in and around your workspace.

Serendipity Labs uses several methodologies to maximize performance for companies. The inviting and modern co-working space opens on the street level into the main lobby and café area (shown), and is complete with work bars and collaborative areas. The second floor contains workspaces, ranging from small telephone rooms to large conference areas. 

"We had to do a significant amount of pre-assessment and study of the concrete held by post tension cables in order to cut through the floor to provide for the new steel staircase that leads from the café to workspaces,” Jodi said.

While this build-out had its challenges, Jodi and team report feeling fortunate to have teamed with many great vendors Korth never met prior to this project.  

“We are only as good as our team,” said Jodi, who believes it is imperative that all parties are present and engaged at weekly progress meetings to ensure seamless communication.

“Every week there was full table of people playing an integral part in this build-out and we know the finished result will be spectacular,” Jodi said.

For different monthly rates, tenants can subscribe for five to 10 days per month or unlimited business hours. There are private offices and team rooms available, large presentation areas, and the signature café, which offers welcome respite, snacks, drinks and “serendipitous” spontaneous interaction.

Serendipity provides the technological amenities modern businesses need with none of the overhead.