Seeking a location that offered easy access to restaurants and shops, BendTECH, a coworking space, will be moving from a stand-alone site on Emkay Drive to the Old Mill District.

The coworking space focuses on encouraging a collaborative space for startups and remote workers to network and share ideas within the tech world. Bend Technology Entrepreneurial and Co-working Hub is a nonprofit organization that was formed to support tech-enabled companies.

In the new location, at SW Bluff Drive, there will be workspaces, a workout room and access to restaurants, said Brian Lindensmith, BendTECH community manager. The new space also boasts 117 parking spaces and a server room where companies can host their servers, Lindensmith said.

“We didn’t have enough amenities in our current location,” Lindensmith said. “We also thought out current space might get leased out from under us. We didn’t want that to happen.”

About 100 members use the space to conduct meetings or work on high-tech projects using the dedicated fiber optic internet connection, vital to the industry, Lindensmith said. BendTECH supports the tech industry and also houses startups or early stage startups by giving free desk space, Lindensmith said. At one time the nonprofit offered free private office space to a startup, but COVID-19 shuttered the program, he said.

There’s been a demand for more than two years now for small to medium office suites in Bend and Redmond, said Brian Fratzke, principal broker of Fratzke Commercial Real Estate.

“Demand for these suites was from firms looking to open an office in Bend, looking to expand their footprint into a larger office, or from firms that wanted to open their second office,” Fratzke said. “The requested office space was for modern, well parked, good signage and close to services like restaurants, sandwich shops, grocery stores and medical service providers.”

Lindensmith said the old location on Emkay Drive was a food desert. Anyone seeking a lunch meeting had to get in a car to drive to a site.

One thing that COVID-19 taught business owners is that workers can perform their duties anywhere, which has brought an influx of newcomers to Bend. For many years Bend maintained a presence as among the top 10 cities for remote workers.

LinkedIn, the online network for workers, ranked Bend the best among small U.S. cities where remote work is the most popular. The online platform said that 41.8% of all jobs in Bend in 2021 were remote jobs.

“Coworking isn’t just about having space for offices, desks, conference meetings, or organized events,” said Adam Krynicki, Oregon State University-Cascades Innovation Co-Lab executive director. “It’s about building a thriving community. People gather around organic interests like grabbing coffee, walking the river trail, or getting lunch. By locating near these activities, BendTECH is bringing new energy to the community.”

Like-minded people sharing space drives innovation for new ideas and insights for entrepreneurs, said Krynicki. Over the years, businesses such as Vector Remote Care, Crabtree Architecture, LeadMethod, and Rupie IO all got their start at the coworking center.

BendTech started in 2012 by Central Oregon’s tech and startup community. One of the founders of the original space was James Gentes, a founder of Tend.ai, according to BendTECH’s website.