Downtown Stockton is making a comeback.
With the Stockmarket, Stockton Visitor’s Bureau and other local businesses putting Stockton on the forefront, many people are finding a reason to come back to downtown other than work or jury duty.
Huddle, a coworking space on San Joaquin Street, is trying to help bring back the charisma downtown Stockton once had.
The minute you walk into Huddle, you’re greeted with a warm, welcoming and modern atmosphere.
Huddle is a project from Ten Space, a company that revitalizes run down parts of cities.
Jasmine Leek, Director for Huddle, manages the space and everything that goes into it.
She handles the lease documents, plans events and networks within the community.
“I take them on tours of the space, and usually we’ll go on a tour of downtown,” said Leek.
There are eight private offices individuals can lease, a conference room and an open room with desks and chairs for those who do not want to lease an office.
While there are offices untouched, a couple companies have set up shop.
Shannon Rock is the owner of Preserve Studio, a wedding photography, videography and event coordination company.
Rock pays one lump sum a month and Huddle provides everything from WiFi to printers and access to a shared kitchen.
While the environment is quiet for most of the day, Rock says those who are at the workspace are always looking for ways to support one another.
“If there are ways to instantly collaborate, people always talk about it,” said Rock.
Huddle also holds mixers and sponsors other special events to help people network and share ideas with others in the community.
“It’s really hard to do something here if you don’t have community support, before all the social media and these things happened, anything was like social gossip. Without something like this it’s really hard to do it without finding a way to get to know people,” said Rock.
Another tenant is Pedro Avila, who owns Road Finch, a bicycle advertising company.
Avila has been with Huddle for a year and enjoys the coworking environment.
“Even if they walk by and say hello to them, it’s better than just being by yourself in an office building,” said Avila.
Tracy has been home to a coworking space, located on Eleventh Street near its downtown area, for years. Larger cities, including San Francisco, also offer this sort of work solution.
With more and more people dropping their 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and starting their own business, coworking will be a part of the everyday routine.
Huddle offers a space that is innovative and modern. They have a good cause that they are pushing towards, which is revitalizing Stockton.
“Healthy cities have a healthy center of their community,” said Leek .“In a city of 300,000 people, usually your downtown is really where the heart of your city is.”
