MIDLAND, Texas — Midland Tower is home to a pretty cool office space that is made with entrepreneurs and small businesses in mind. It's called Second Story.
The 14,000 square foot co-working floor has 32 private offices, four conference rooms and more than 40 different businesses inside.
“Being an entrepreneur, being a business person, it can get lonely," said Joe Aylor, Second Story co-owner. "It can be one of those things that you’re doing by yourself a lot of time.”
But that is not the case on the second floor of Midland Tower at Second Story.
“Midland is one of the most entrepreneurial cities in America there’s small businesses everywhere," Brian Davis, Second Story Co-Owner, said.
That's why Davis and Naylor, both entrepreneurs themselves, decided to create a co-working space right in downtown Midland. It has everything from conference rooms, printing, WiFi and your office staple—bottomless coffee.
“We were working at coffee shops, I was working out of my house, I was working on my laundry room at one point," Davis said. "As we traveled to other cities we noticed how co-working places worked."
Davis says they actually worked at a few co-working places in Dallas and Austin.
"We thought this would be a great resource for Midland and it was something that we wanted to build because we wanted to use it ourselves," Davis said.
Second Story opened about nine months ago, and there are more than 40 different businesses using the space.
"Everyone assumes that it’s all oil and gas," Davis said. "And while there are a lot of oil and gas businesses, there’s also tech start ups, insurance, education, healthcare, creative marketing, I mean all kinds of businesses are here.”
Most of all, Second Story provides a community.
"Sitting at the coffee pot, we have a kegerator at the space so I mean we sit down in the afternoon and just have beer together sometimes," Aylor said. "Talking through business challenges and it’s amazing to see over 20 different industries come together and collaborate to solve those problems.”
Naylor and Davis are hopeful the space will energize entrepreneurs.
"From Opal’s Table, Tall City Crewery...look around the city and look at all the entrepreneurs that have been pouring into the city," Aylor said. "Midlanders see that as a bit of hope, excitement and a second story.”
And that Second Story is just getting started.
This year, the interior designer behind Second Story was named NewsWest 9's Best of the Basin.
To note, Second Story is not just for entrepreneurs. If you would like to use the space for events or conferences, you can visit here.
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