Hive heading for a new home - with plans for a bigger and more in-depth service offering.

By Pepper Parr

November 29th, 2107

BURLINGTON, ON

It was one of the good things that was done by the private sector.

It was needed, served a purpose but has had a really tough time growing and putting down the roots it needed.
The Hive started out in the downtown core – a parking lot away from city hall.

The original Hive location on Elizabeth Street.

It offered a service that everyone at city hall said was needed – the kind of thing a progressive city would have.

The Hive was a shared office space location focused on the emerging start-up entrepreneurial market that the city has wanted to attract for some time. Shaun Pennell held a bang-up launch party – it certainly looked good.

But in order for a new idea like this to take root it needed support from the commercial and public sectors.

It was being used – just not often enough.

The signs tell the story – new location will certainly be different.

After a couple of years Pennell decided to pull up the stakes he had put down and moved north to Guelph Line and Harvester.

Same service, same market and he again attracted enough in the way of a clientele to more than hold his own.

The obligatory hockey table game for the hyper active entrepreneurial set to burn off some of the energy.

But Pennell had a bigger dream – he wanted to be able to offer a “full” service; a place that had a coffee shop as part of the operation; maybe a day care and a barber shop. A small gym floor with some basketball hoops and certainly a table hockey game.

To be have administrative, marketing and accounting services available at the same location was part of the dream and the long term plan.

The Guelph Line location was pretty good but the landlord had bigger plans for the property. The construction work that was taking place didn’t help much either.

Finding space in Burlington was a bit of a challenge but – well the sign tells the story. The Hive was moving again – into a bigger and better location.

Logo for Tech Place – an arms length Economic Development Corporation unit.

Meanwhile the city put its eggs in a different basket – working through the Economic Development Corporation they created Tech Place which was basically the same concept as the Hive – a place where start-ups could locate at a cost that was more than manageable.

Tech Place had one significant advantage and that was a connection to AngelOne, a funding source from those in Burlington with deep pockets.