West Side Story: New retail center tenant twists concept of office

HARLINGEN — The anchor tenant at the $6.8 million Stuart Place Crossing, which is still under construction, has a doozy of a business plan.

Revolutionize the concept of business, or at a minimum, the office.

Venture X, home-based in Naples, Florida, has leased the entire second floor of the retail building located at Stuart Place Road and I-2/U.S. Expressway 83 on the west side of the city. That space totals about 9,000 square feet.

The growing company has a dizzying array of options all based on a concept of an open office, an office which seems part boutique hotel and part upscale health club. For a fee which slides up the scale, an entrepreneur can rent a private office, ensure a seat at a common shared desk or merely lease a virtual office with a glitzy address with mail and package delivery.

Venture X is bullish on South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, with one location recently opening in San Antonio, and Harlingen and Brownsville locations (222 N. Expressway 77/83) expected to open in February.

“Our San Antonio office launched in late May and we’re already 78 percent occupied,” said the company’s brand manager, Michelle Solis. “So we’re very happy with how things have gone in our San Antonio location, and we’ve already started receiving additional inquiries from the Harlingen and Brownsville communities.

“We’re pretty excited about it,” she added.

The unique look of the Stuart Place Crossing architecture seems to fit the open office concept. The glassy exterior makes it appear airy inside, and that seems to mesh with Venture X’s concept.

“It’s going to be a beautiful space,” Solis said. “If you look at some of the photos that you see on our San Antonio website, everything will be very, very much the same — lots of glass, lots of openness.”

Solis says the relative air of freedom which dominates the office designs isn’t by chance. She says a big part of the appeal of Venture X is a sense of community within open space, something which encourages collaboration and interaction among business people who have contracted with the company for office space or access.

The San Antonio location was the first outside of Naples, and another location is up and operating in Mississauga, Ontario.

But Venture X has nothing if not big plans.

Several other locations are in the planning stages in addition to Harlingen and Brownsville, including Miami and Sarasota, Florida, Denver, Rockville, Maryland, and in Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco and Plano. An overseas location is planned in Australia.

Solis said there will be some variances and prices depending on the properties and markets involved.

“Generally speaking, you’ll see the same services and same quality product overall,” Solis said.

Stuart Place Crossing isn’t the only hot property around Stuart Place Road and I-2/U.S. Expressway 83.

The Exceptional Emergency Center is expected to open there in November, and Texas Regional Bank’s new headquarters building is under construction. Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen opened a few months ago.

Next to the free-standing emergency center, which arose from a renovation of the old AT&T call center, is a retail strip called Stuart Place Plaza.

Bea Naranjo, a Valley native, is a vice president with Moseley Commercial Real Estate in Houston and she’s bullish on the Stuart Place Road area. Her company purchased the plaza within the past few months.

“We’re very excited about our investment in Harlingen, the response has been phenomenal,” she said.

The plaza is home to Comet Cleaners, Phoenix Insurance and, coming within the next month, a second Schoolhouse Creamery location for the city.

Naranjo said her company still has about 6,200 square feet of retail area available.

“We’re looking at merchandising the center and making it a neighborhood center with all the amenities the neighbors in the area might need,” Naranjo said. “We received a huge response when we put the sign up (announcing new ownership) and a lot of comments on Facebook. Most of the comments were about finally getting nice amenities on this side of the city.”

Naranjo also had praise for local lender First Community Bank, which helped with the acquisition and financing of the property.

“I’ll put this up against any shopping center in Houston,” she said.

More information:

What does Venture X cost?

Venture X pricing runs from a minimum of $40 per month for the community plan, which includes a single day of access to the offices per month, with day passes at $25 per day.

More expensive plans include the shared desk plan ($250 per month), dedicated desk ($475 per month) and private office ($650 per month).

The virtual office plan provides a business address with mail and package handling for $50 per month with day passes available.

Each plan includes access to one of the conference rooms beginning at $35 an hour with price dependent on the size of the room.

Venture X officials say the price list may vary depending on the location of the property, but cost of the plans will be in this ballpark.

Source: Venture X

More on Stewart Place Crossing

– Two stories, 12 units

– Approximately 18,000 square feet

– $6.8 million development

– Estimated completion, early 2018

– Russo’s New York Pizzeria

– Tropical Smoothie Café

– Venture X office and business space