Officials with Nashville-based co-working company E|SPACES are targeting on October opening for a downtown Franklin office, while simultaneously prepping for Chattanooga and Orlando locations.

Jon Pirtle, E|SPACES Inc. president and CEO, said the company will take space in the 231 Public Square Building, the adaptive reuse project for which work remains underway adjacent to the Franklin City Hall.

Pirtle (pictured) said E|SPACES  will take about 12,000 square feet, an entire floor, in the 231 Public Square Building. The site is being redeveloped (read more here) by Bernie Butler, president of project partner D9 Development; local real estate investor Charles Crews of Crews Investments; and Brian Schiedemeyer, president of Heartland Partners (the project’s general contractor).

“When [the development/ownership team] approached me and showed me their vision, we knew this was the premier office space in Middle Tennessee,” said Pirtle, who has lived in Franklin for 15 years. “As soon as it became available, it was a home run.”

Once open, this will be the fourth E|SPACES  location. The company has suburban offices in Hill Center Belle Meade and Cool Springs. It will open an office in June at the University Tower in downtown Chattanooga.

In addition, E|SPACES eventually will take about 30,000 square feet in the 28-story Church Street Plaza building under construction in downtown Orlando. Pirtle said a late 2019 or early 2020 move-in is being eyed. Of note, Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co., which has undertaken the development and management of various Nashville buildings, is the developer.

Pirtle said the 231 Public Square Building E|SPACES office will have two full-time staffers. Neither the cost to get operational nor terms of the lease is being disclosed.

Pirtle said the annual membership fees have yet to be finalized. For context, the Cool Springs E|SPACES office offers a one-person annual membership for a co-working office (and not a private space) for $500.

As to the significance of transitioning from having two suburban locations to eventually adding three urban locales (downtown Franklin, Chattanooga and Orlando) Pirtle said the company simply looks for quality buildings in attractive settings.

“We don’t have a blue print per se,” he said. “We just want to give our members an effective work environment. We have to find the right developer, owner and property.”