Level Office puts coworking space on tap in former law building (Photos)

Windows from the community coworking space in Level Office’s seven-floor Kessler Building offer an up-close view of the Jackson County Courthouse, Sprint Center and downtown Kansas City.

That proximity to the 16th Circuit Court, the court of appeals and the Jackson County Detention Center makes Chicago-based Level Office a magnet for men and women in the legal profession, said Elise Grosdidier, center manager for the downtown office building. But the space — the former home of Levy Craig Law Firm — also draws such varied professions as designers, a massage therapist and a hypnotist, she added.

“When I first started, this was mostly a blank slate. I was like, ‘I can get whoever I want in here.’ And that was the coolest thing to me,” Grosdidier said. “So I’ve worked really hard to be strategic on, not necessarily cherry picking people, but going out to the right events to attract the right clientele: hard-working, funny, motivational, great people to work with.”

Level Office features private offices in a variety of shapes and sizes, she said, as well as a community coworking space, which opened Jan. 11.

“It’s not cookie-cutter. We really have a little bit of something for everyone,” Grosdidier said.

Membership plans offer a lower price point from some competing coworking spaces, with dedicated desks at $199 a month and open desks for $99 a month. Private offices range from $399 a month to $1,349-plus a month, depending on the size of team and space.

Grosdidier touted such high-end amenities as direct fiber Internet, local beer on tap and Kansas City coffee roasts at an on-site espresso bar.

A recent prospective client inquired about space as an individual entrepreneur, Grosdidier recalled, but he was worried about signing a contract because he might soon add members to his team.

“That’s the perfect candidate for us. We want people to grow here with us,” she said. “And that’s one of the reasons why we offer all of these offices in different shapes and sizes. It’s music to my ears when I hear that people want to grow here in our building.”

Like the Kansas City-based coworking community Plexpod, Level Office prides itself on giving new life to historic structures. Built in 1919, the Kessler Building features a red brick exterior and oversized windows overlooking Oak and East 13th streets.

“Our business model is genius. We go into these growing, urban environments and find historic buildings that are in major need of a makeover,” Grosdidier said. “We go in and renovate them, which is part of the consistency across our brand. Being privately owned means there’s no middle man, so we have total control over our buildings and our pricing to make sure our client is getting their money’s worth with us.”

As with coworking giant WeWork, which operates its Corrigan Station space a half-dozen blocks to the south, Level Office offers members a national network of available coworking locations. Along with four spots in its hometown of Chicago, the company has expanded to such far-flung cities as Seattle, San Diego, Dallas, Denver, Nashville, Richmond, Virginia, and Jacksonville, Florida.

“Level Office is pretty strategic with where they choose to go,” Grosdidier said. “The market in Kansas City obviously is growing like crazy.”
In addition to Plexpod and WeWork, the downtown-Crossroads area is home to the coworking community OfficePort KC and soon will welcome the Baltimore-based co-living concept Spark KC to the mix.