Constellations, the shared workspace and community hub for social changemakers, has opened its doors for its first tenants. The building, located in the heart of the Historic Sweet Auburn district, will host tenants from academia, private and non-profit enterprises.
The building is 85 percent occupied already, according to owner and developer Gene Kansas, with tenants including tech startups, social enterprises and creatives. 70 percent of tenants are women-led businesses.
“We didn’t set out to build any specific type of community,” says Kansas. “But we had a common denominator of being thoughtful, and that’s resulted in diversity.”
Georgia Tech and Georgia State will also have offices in the building with room for 10 people to work in each. Kansas says that Georgia State will host classes in social entrepreneurship, while Tech will keep a programming office in the building.
In addition to offices, the building has a coffee bar (dubbed the Milky Way), a podcast studio, conference rooms and a library with a curated set of books and other historical artifacts. The library will host events as well, and Constellations offers a free “Happenings Membership” for community members to attend those educational and social events.
These events include the Grand Opening on June 1st, as well as a reading by author Gary M. Pomerantz of his book Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn: A Saga of Race and Family, slated for May 31. The historical work chronicles the rise of two of Atlanta’s most prominent families.
History is intentionally woven throughout the design of Constellations, acknowledging the deep history of the neighborhood it sits within. Along with Constellations, the first floor hosts the African American history museum APEX Museum. Next door is the former office of The Atlanta Daily World, the first successful black daily newspaper in the country.
Constellations’ investors share Kansas’s vision of a space for social change. They include Home Depot CFO Carol Tomé, Community Foundation board member Ramon Tomé, co-creator of the Crazy Good Turns podcast Brad Shaw, BCG consultant Mike Gandy and civic leader Ted Bradford.
Constellations is still accepting applications for its remaining offices. Check out the space below.
All photos by Luke Beard
