Smooth jazz playing softly from an Alexa and the smell of freshly fitted carpets are among the first things you notice stepping into Metaprop’s New York headquarters.
On a bitterly cold Thursday afternoon, it is a welcome greeting. It is the day after MIPIM Proptech New York, and I’ve come to look around the venture capitalist’s offices.
But there’s something a little different about these offices. Tucked down West 39th Street, just far enough away from the honks of impatient taxi drivers at the throngs of tourists visiting Times Square seven blocks away, Metaprop’s HQ isn’t just for employees. The venture capitalist is aiming to make its offices the proptech hub of New York.
Space for start-ups
Earlier this year Metaprop opened its doors to proptech companies located not just in the city, but around the world. The organisation is offering space for start-ups looking for a place to work, meet clients or simply use as a pit stop when travelling to New York for business.
The organisation does not charge companies it works with, creative director Iurij Cussianovich says, although those lacking a pre-existing business relationship with Metaprop will need to pay. Prices start at $249 per month for a hot-desk, $699 per month for a dedicated desk, and $2,500 per month for a dedicated private office.
It’s not just Alexa that signals this is a home for tech geeks. Remnants of an office Halloween party remain dotted around the place, including a heavy silver chain hanging in one of the office’s phone booths. If you look closer, headshots of Metaprop co-founder and managing partner Aaron Block have been stuck onto the chain. “He went as blockchain,” explains Cussianovich.
Technology
The office is fitted with technology from proptech start-ups that Metaprop has invested in. Vergesense AI sensors have been installed, monitoring how people are using the office and feeding information back to Metaprop so that the organisation can manage its space as effectively as possible.
There are Instagram-friendly decorations and displays. A pair of gold ornaments, one in the shape of a hastag and one an @ sign, sit on the shelves in one meeting room, as well as an inspirational quote sitting in a picture frame, which seems to capture the proptech ethos: “Work hard and get stuff done.”
This motto could not be more fitting to describe NYC Real Estate Tech Week. In fact, it seems as if the city’s proptech community has worked so hard this week that everyone has gone home – only two people are sitting in the communal hot-desking area in the office, and both are Metaprop employees. It’s never this quiet, Cussianovich insists.
Perhaps it’s this peace and quiet that is exactly what is needed after the madness of this year’s proptech week. As I leave the office and the soft hum of jazz behind me, I wonder how many people I’ll see there next year.
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