Switchyards, the membership-only work club, is opening its 10th space in the heart of Atlanta’s startup and technology neighborhood.
Midtown has long been the center of Atlanta’s business community. In recent years, corporate giants like Google, NCR, and Invesco have opened up large offices in the neighborhood and transformed the Midtown skyline. But the Historic Biltmore Hotel, the Midtown landmark that Switchyards has pegged for its next location, has always been a staple in the neighborhood. It sits across the street from Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, Tech Square, ATDC, and the Coda Building.
(And fun fact: Hypepotamus itself started in the Biltmore!).
Switchyards will open up in January of 2024, just as the Biltmore is set to celebrate its 100th anniversary.
Michael Tavani, Switchyards’ founder and CEO, said that opening up in Midtown is great because the neighborhood is “historic, walkable, residential, and full of soul.”
“We keep a close eye on what neighborhoods our members live in and what clubs are getting busy. We then try to open new clubs in great neighborhoods that check those boxes and where we have no presence currently. Midtown has been a long time coming as we’ve had our eye on it for years. Just waiting for the right location. The Biltmore was it,” Tavani told Hypepotamus.
“Promiscuous” Workers
Where people work continues to be a big topic of conversation. Commercial real estate professionals want to know how they can incentivize employees to come into the office. Workers want flexibility. And employers want to strike a balance of saving money on unused space and getting teams together on a regular cadence.
At the end of the day, everyone is still trying to figure out the future of office space.
Switchyards has a strong thesis about what the future of work and the future of office space looks like. Founded in 2016 in Downtown Atlanta, Switchyards has grown a network of “work clubs” across Atlanta and Nashville. Switchyards members have access to all different locations across the city.
That thesis has evolved over the years, Tavani told Hypepotamus. The goal early on was to fit the needs of all different kinds of hybrid knowledge workers.
“That said, we used to have a product where the majority use case was “monogamous”. Meaning more than half of our members used to visit their “home club” the most. Now as we’re adding density of clubs to cities, we’re seeing the majority use case being more “promiscuous”, members visiting multiple clubs around the city more than just one club,” he added.
Switchyards Midtown will open its doors on January 12th, 2024, with memberships going online on January 3.
