All Over Albany

A bid to SPARK + THRIVE in Arbor Hill

At the corner of North Swain and Third Street.

A new co-working space is set to open just down the street from the Albany Barn in February. SPARK + THRIVE is billed as a "collaborative workspace for freelancers, creatives, startups, professional small business owners and college students." The founder of the space is Kaciem Swain -- he'll be running it via his startup agency Flagship Ultra, in partnership with the Albany Housing Authority.

We got a chance to talk with Swain recently. He's an interesting guy, with a wide range of business experiences -- from event production, to entertainment management, to marketing.

So we were interested to hear his thoughts about opening a co-working space, and the direction of Albany's Arbor Hill neighborhood.

Why a co-working space?

I own a small business myself, and I've always liked the idea of co-working. I want to work with people that I can collaborate with.

I grew up in Arbor Hill. My father was active in the community, I was active in the community. And when the [Albany] Barn came, I was like this is cool... it should have been a co-working space, that's what I was thinking. And they're like, it is but it isn't. Everyone has their own offices. The energy is different.

So, I wanted to do something that Arbor Hill doesn't have. Troy has the Center of Gravity. Albany has the Beahive, which is small and intimate, but they're not doing programming, bringing people in from the community to teach them how to start small businesses. So for me it's really about the opportunity to teach people how to start and grow a small business in the area.

Albany hasn't always been the most supportive of starting a small business or running and growing them. The process of trying to do something versus going to Schenectady or going to Troy -- it's way less red tape in those cities than in Albany.

Kaciem Swain. / photo courtesy of Kaciem Swain

When I first opened a [shared office] a couple years ago, I had first month, last month, security, that was $3,800. Then I had to get insurance. Time Warner Cable for a commercial space is not what it is for a home, it's $300 a month. So the barriers to get a space, that's usually either too big or too small, for a small business is ridiculously high. So I want to lower that barrier to entry for people who want to create and want to be able to provide a service or want to be able to network with likeminded people who are creative or people who just want to get out of the house. ...

I think the most complained about thing [about co-working spaces] is usually the cost. Can I afford the $300 a month? Can I afford the $200 for two weeks? I can afford the $20 drop-in, but is this going to be a good investment for me, am I going grow if I'm there?

So it's about trying to providing services so that once you're here you can grow. Or I can find someone to bring in programming that's going to help people grow, and networking opportunities to help people find new clients, expand their business, hire new employees -- hire the right employees.

What's your sense of Arbor Hill right now, the state of the neighborhood and where it's going?

Arbor Hill's going through a change. I grew up there, I've been in Arbor Hill for 25 years.

I used to be on Orange and Dove Street, growing up I'm thinking my family owns most of these properties. And it's like, as Habitat for Humanity and the land bank start buying up all these properties on Orange Street, on Sheridan, I'm talking to my family, like, you're about to make some money, you can move to a better house. They're like, we don't own these properties. It's like, why not? You've been here 25+ years. There are three families in each house that are related. You're paying $600 a month for rent -- that's $1,800 a month. You could have a $600-a-month mortgage. You could leave something to your kids.

I've seen a lot of change coming to the neighborhood. They've got condominiums at the bottom of Orange Street [at Chapel]. (Laughing.) If you had tried to do that 20 years ago, people would be like, nah... you're not putting condos down here.

You said you could kind of see this happening. What were the ingredients there that you thought, yeah, Arbor Hill is going to start moving in that direction?

For me, I saw the change coming when the Metropolitan church ended up buying a plot of land next to them to expand. I'm like, if a church is willing to invest millions of dollars in this neighborhood to expand, then that says a lot about the state of the neighborhood. If it's unsafe, or if nobody wants to live there or travel there, nobody's going to be willing to spend millions of dollars.

Then the Albany Barn, you heard about that coming. And it's like, that's going be great. If the city and Albany Housing is willing to spend millions of dollars in this neighborhood, that says a lot. Then they start tearing down Ida Yarbrough and redeveloping it -- that's going to take a couple of years.

But it's like, OK, you're starting to see investment getting made right in that area. They built the gas station on the bottom of Broadway, which is not that far from there. The two brothers want to turn that vacant property [on Broadway across from the post office] into apartments. That's not too far from what people consider "the 'hood," but it's still in the neighborhood.

So I see all these investments being made and it's a lot of opportunity for people to move into this neighborhood and help be a part of the change, redevelop the neighborhood.

You mention people moving into the neighborhood and new investment. What do you think are ways for people already there to benefit from this, to grow something there?

I'd like to see people who already are in the neighborhood to start owning their homes. There's a lot of rentals over there. Albany Housing owns a lot of property over there, the land bank owns a lot of property in Arbor Hill, in Sheridan Hollow.

I was just at an event at The Barn, they're trying to figure out for zoning what businesses, what restaurants, what housing situations people would like to see in the neighborhood so they can start to develop it or redevelop it, so people can come to the community and want to live there and stay there.

Because all the state workers park in Arbor Hill, but none of them stay there after five o'clock. You've got thousands of people here in the morning for 30 minutes, then nobody's there all day, lunch 30 minutes, and then after everybody leaves. So none of that money is staying in the community. So how do we build infrastructure to make people want to live there?

And the people who are already there want to stay there, not move. And I feel like they're being forced to go to other neighborhoods. And I think all of that [situation is part of] home ownership.

What do you think the barriers are to people becoming home owners?

A lot of it is education. Nobody's out here in the community educating people about what credit is and how to own a home. We live in an age where there's a lot on the internet, but people don't have access to that, either. There's still a barrier to having internet at home. ... I would love to see the city invest in infrastructure for internet access.

And a lot of if it is risk. If you're not educated correctly, you're scared. You're thinking, I don't know how to take care of a home. What if I lose my home? Home foreclosure is scary. And it's like, what if I can't afford it? What if I lose my job?

And a lot of it is job and pay. A lot of jobs don't pay much. If you don't have the education, how do you learn skills to get a job that's going to pay $15 an hour or more, so you can take care of yourself, or maybe yourself and two kids.

How does that change?

Key investments. The right partnerships. Developing the right relationships. And people who are willing to actually do the work.

That's why I want to be in that neighborhood. Because I have no problem calling up banks and saying, hey, come in and do seminars for the neighborhood. Let's get people in here and teach them how to own houses, how to start businesses that are sustainable and stay in the community -- and how to hire from within the community.

This interview has been edited and condensed.
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SPARK + THRIVE is scheduled to open in February at 42 North Swan Street in a 850-square-foot storefront space. Swain says rates will range from $25 for one day, to $150 for 15 days, to $225 for a month. Included with that fee will be access to office services such as printing and internet access and coffee, along with access to creative and design tools, and events.