Tahoe Mountain Lab provides unique work situation

While the official grand opening isn't until May 26, the doors have opened and office spaces are filling up at the new Tahoe Mountain Lab in South Lake Tahoe. What was once the Tahoe Daily Tribune offices on Lake Tahoe Blvd. is now home to 24 private offices, shared work spaces, tables and desks as well as the local paper's new office.

"We are already 80% full," said co-owner Dr. Jamie Orr, who along with husband David, and former business partner Jess Walker opened the original shared workspace on Ski Run Blvd. in 2014. The couple has now joined local builder Bernard Creegan and his wife Cristi. The group purchased the old Tribune building and with Bernard's contractor skills and David's hard work, they opened on time and on budget.

"We are all very relieved," said Jamie. "Bernard did a stellar job and we have a really good team."

David and Cristi will take care of the day-to-day operations of the business.

The purchase of the building was started before the Harrison Avenue Project was completed, but Jamie said she couldn't say anything until escrow closed. She said that was hard and had to bite her tongue when City officials were talking about the potential of private-public partnerships in the area, and how they'd be good for the economy. A bonus to the new office space is the City's new parking lot adjacent to the building. Free parking is available to the community, including those doing business inside.

Once inside there is no resemblance of what used to be there. The front door has moved to the side where the parking lot is. The old publisher's office is now a new private office with glass and white walls in place of the old lava rock that was once prevalent throughout the building.

Besides the 25 offices there is a shared entry complete with kitchen, television and fireplace, and room for others to grab a table or desk to work on.

The concept is growing through the country as millennials recreate their daily work lives with more entrepreneurs who might hit the slopes or bike trails for a long lunch break.

Tahoe Mountain Lab also has a classroom style meeting room for its members that can fit 49 people sitting, or 100 people at a cocktail party.

Options to be part of TML include a daily fee of $25 for those just needing a drop-in, temporary space. Members pay $150 a month to have full access of the building for 10 days a month. $250 gets them desk space each month while $500 will get the business person a private office. All but the latter are available month-to-month while an office space is available on a one year lease. Spaces inside run from 93 to 230-square-feet with the Tribune's space about 2,500-square-feet.

There are just four offices left. So far, the following businesses are all board with offices set up at Tahoe Mountain Lab: Admios, Aliens From the Future, AllAboard, LLC, BL Friedman Creative, California Communtiy Colleges Doing What Matters Initiative, CB Umbrella Group, Century 21 Tahoe Paradise, Climate Parents
Code for America - Tahoe Chapter, Cooperative Tahoe Inc., Cutting Edge Design, Darke Marketing, Dos Gringos, Enovity, Epic Tahoe, Filament, Handelin Law, Hatchback Creative, Help U Sell Lake Tahoe, Inka Direct, Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce’s Tactical Team, Lara Miller PR, Level Frames, Quest Controls, RO Anderson, Sage Engineering, Satin Legal, Strategic Marketing Group, Spatial Informatics Group, LLC, Tahoe Daily Tribune, Tahoe Heritage Foundation, TCS Digital Marketing, Waddell & Reed, Wells Fargo and Wildscape Engineering.

While the doors had been opened during opening, entry to the building will only be available to those with a key or code. This allows the tenants to work without distraction in a private setting. All paying members will have a key, but they can give the code to those arriving for meetings. Jamie said the doorbell is your cellphone, and people will have to call the person they are there to see.

Conference space is unique to South Lake Tahoe as well. The conference spaces are available to the tenants of TML and provide a two-person, 4-6 person and a 12-14 person meeting room.

Another unique feature is for tenants who serve on non-profit boards. They are able to bring in that non-profit for meetings. So far, members of the Board of Directors for Tahoe Heritage Foundation, Tahoe Women's Community Fund, Chamber of Commerce, Tahoe Tallac Association, Boys and Girls Club of Lake Tahoe, the Lake Tahoe Educational Foundation, Live Violence Free and Lake Tahoe Community College Foundation are all renting space at Tahoe Mountain Lab.

Even the water fountain is unique with the water bottle refilling station monitoring the number of bottles that have been kept out of landfills with its use. As of Monday, that count was already at 149 and it was just opening day.

The white walls throughout have some artwork on them, but Jamie hopes to feature local artists in the future.

The old Tribune sign was donated to the Lake Tahoe Historical society as were hundreds of old newspapers. The sign will be added to the outside wall of the museum along with other old signs from the community. For now, all of the old copies are in a donated storage space, waiting to be sorted.

Join the Orrs and Creegans for the grand opening at Tahoe Mountain Lab on May 26 for a 6:00 p.m. ribbon cutting and tour.