A Lancaster co-working space that gives professionals who work from home a space to collaborate with their peers is opening a second location in Warwick Township.
The Candy Factory will be among the tenants of Rock Lititz LP, a campus housing companies related to the live entertainment industry.
Candy Factory owner Anne Kirby has partnered with Lititz resident Steve Palmer to manage the co-working space at Rock Lititz, which will be called Rock Candy, A Candy Factory Project. It is slated to open in January.
Palmer, who started his own co-working initiative in 2015, Imagine Coworking, has been trying to bring co-working to the Lititz community since then. He works from home for a software company.
After plans for a brick and mortar co-working location fell through, he has hosted several pop-up co-working events downtown.
“I’m pretty excited, and I think it’s neat to have started this process, probably about a year and half ago – it’s cool to see this finally come to fruition,” Palmer said.
Kirby and Palmer will manage day-to-day operations in the 2,400-square-foot space, which will have room for 30 full-time members and flex space available for drop-ins, Candy Factory said.
Membership costs range from $300 for full time members to $10 a day for drop-ins.
Rock Candy is already generating interest, especially from those who attended Imagine Coworking’s pop-up co-events in Lititz, Palmer said.
“Those outside of Lancaster City aren’t quite as familiar with co-working,” Palmer said, naming communities such as Lititz, Ephrata and Manheim.
“This will be kind of new,” Palmer said.
Having a co-working space in Warwick Township fills a void for northern Lancaster County, which was something Rock Lititz Manager Andrea Shirk considered when she asked Candy Factory to join the campus
Candy Factory joins other midstate businesses
Candy Factory is one of several midstate companies to sign a lease at Rock Lititz, which is being developed by two Lititz-based businesses – Clair Global and Tait Towers.
Clair Global makes and rents audio systems for touring musicians, while Tait Towers builds stages for tours.
The companies will be tenants in a 250,000-square-foot building known as Pod 2, which is slated for completion this December.
The building is the second structure on the 96-acre Rock Lititz campus, and it sits across the street from a 52,000-square-foot studio that was completed in 2014. The studio is used for live entertainment acts to rehearse.
The idea behind Pod 2 is to house a group of companies that can collaborate and work with tour crews and musicians.
“It’s not just about collaboration, it’s about creating a community,” Shirk said.
Check out the full story behind Rock Lititz in this week’s Business Journal.
