Photo courtesy of Side B Productions, LLC
Common Desk, a Dallas-based co-working space that calls itself a “a tightly-knit community of game-changers, difference-makers, and global influencers” has purchased Social Mechanics, a boutique gym on Lower Greenville.
Social Mechanics, formerly owned by 8020 Hospitality (who run the adjacent HG Sply Co.), will remain as a gym for conditioning with a focus on functional strength and will add yoga and meditation classes in the future.
Social Mechanics General Manager Cristen Trousdale was on the verge of purchasing the gym herself and moving to a new location down the street when she connected with Common Desk Founder and CEO Nick Clark, who approached her about purchasing Social Mechanics. After just one lunch, Trousdale knew it would be a great fit. She will keep running the Lower Greenville gym while growing the brand through pop-up gyms at other Common Desk locations.
Last year, Common Desk took over the Method Coffee location on Ross Avenue with its own brand of coffee shop, Fiction Coffee.
So why would an office space company the focuses on flexibility and value purchase gyms and start coffee shops?
According to Clark, it is all about the future. Common Desk hopes to expand into new buildings and be able to offer property owners a range of options, with the co-working space just part of the deal that could include Fiction Coffee and Social Mechanics. Currently, companies that rent space from Common Desk get a 20 percent discount at Social Mechanics and Fiction.
Clark says that users are no longer satisfied with an anonymous fitness center and break room, and that the brands of Social Mechanics and Fiction will add value to future deals. Common Desk wants to move from just renting space to providing amenities such as coffee, exercise and even meditation right at the office.
Common Desk began in 2012 after Clark worked in the commercial real estate business for seven years and graduating from SMU. He says the Common Desk model meets the changing expectations of modern corporations. “Business is moving at lighting speed now, and it is scary to sign a 5-15 year lease without there being some flexible space,” he says.
Fiction and Social Mechanics can help create the campus feel that many companies want today, with amenities to attract top talent. “CEOs are making decisions based on recruitment abilities,” Clark says. His plan is for these added brands to be part of that equation.
For Trousdale, a single mom of two kids who lives near the gym, she would like to see more moms like her in Social Mechanics, which she recognizes can be intimidating. She knows about postpartum fitness and hopes she can work more with that demographic.”Where are all my moms?” she says.
