New Broad Ripple co-working space set to open next month

Two co-founders of a Indianapolis social-media-tracking firm are opening a co-working space between Broad Ripple and Glendale aimed at creative professionals.

The new space is called The Hatch, and it's expected to open its doors at 6161 Hillside Ave. at the beginning of August. The two-story building will feature art studios, recording booths, green screens and more, but its open to entrepreneurs of all stripes.

"It could be marketing and advertising, which is our world," said Fizziology LLC co-founder Jen Handley. "It could be architecture and design. But it could also be anyone who needs to infuse creativity into their day."

Started in 2009, Fizziology works with every major film studio except Disney to analyze social media sentiment about their productions. It employs 17 people, including 12 at its current office at 6338 College Ave. Ben Carlson is its other co-founder.

About this time last year, Handley and Carlson started looking to move their digs, but couldn't find any office space that had the vibe and amenities they were looking for.

They then made a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, where one of their employees works in a co-working space. The energy impressed them, so they ditched their plans for leasing space and decided to buy a building that could be a co-working space.

They settled on the 1970-built Hillside Avenue location earlier this spring. The former trophy-production shop has 11,000 square feet of space, and Fizziology will assume 2,700 square feet of that.

"While I think that there have been some great [co-working] concepts launched here in central Indiana, they've been very developer-focused, very tech-focused, very startup-focused," Carlson said."But we view ourselves as something slightly different," he said, mentioning the easels, drying racks and lighting equipment the space will host.

The Hatch will feature 10 office suites—two-person or four-person—and open space. The entire operation will be able to seat about 150.

Full-time membership, which allows access seven days a week, will cost $375 a month. Part-time membership for three-day access runs $225. Day passes cost $40.

The Hatch is a separate entity from Fizziology. While Handley and Carlson have ownership stakes in the Hatch, they will maintain their roles as co-presidents of Fizziology.

Handley said she raised a "low-six-figure" sum of capital from investors to buy the building.

The Hatch's forthcoming opening marks the latest in a series of new or expanded co-working operations in the past few years.

Launch Cause, a space geared for not-for-profit entrepreneurs, opened in April, and The Union opened in Westfield a month earlier.

Launch Fishers moved from from a basement library into a 52,000-square-foot facility in March. And The Speak Easy near Broad Ripple said it planned to open a second location downtown this summer.