Lost Office Collaborative is a business development concept that offers rentable office space for workshops and corporate events. (Photos courtesy Lost Office Collaborative)
A pair of local business consultants have thought up a new venture aimed at providing users with an office away from the office.
Christian Markow and Mark Brown plan to open Lost Office Collaborative at Rocketts Landing in early January.
The concept is aimed at companies seeking rentable spaces for workshops, team-building exercises and similar events. The venture’s 6,100-square-foot space at 5000 Old Main St. features two meeting rooms, a coffee bar and a library.
With its blend of technology, modular meeting space, consulting services and logistical support, Lost Office Collaborative is being pitched as a silver bullet for the challenge of creating and maintaining well-oiled work environments by bringing together the rentable workspace concept with in-house consultants.
“It is premium wellness-driven space to help people come into an environment where they can work together deeply,” Markow said.
“The pandemic revealed an issue that we believe has been going on ever since offices were made. Teams don’t have good places to do what we call ‘deep work’ together, and if anyone has been in an office they know what that means,” he added. “It’s (freedom from) distractions. … No one ever feels like they have everything they need to be equipped to get together and do something productive.”
The space features two meeting rooms, a library and a coffee bar.
Brown said the concept is trying to appeal both to office-based companies looking for a change of scenery from their usual workplace and to firms that tend to operate remotely but occasionally want to gather in person.
“Teams have offices, so we want to be the place in Richmond, Central Virginia, where they’re trying to get out of their normal office space to go somewhere for a really deep work team experience,” Brown said.
“We’re looking at these teams that are distributed, working from home still, hybrid, only coming into the office at certain times. Those companies have divested away from their real estate office space because of that. We want to be a solution for those companies that have gone away from their own office real estate and bring teams together in critical moments.”
Lost Office Collaborative plans to offer the services of contracted coaches and consultants to customers interested in some guidance for their events. Markow and Brown are tapping into their networks to fill out the contractor roster.
Lost Office Collaborative founders Christian Markow (on left) and Mark Brown in the venue’s library space.
They also will call upon Greenhouse Coaching, which has relocated to a space at Lost Office from the Midlothian location of coworking chain Gather. Greenhouse is a tenant in the Lost Office space.
Space rentals at Lost Office start at $5,000. Prices increase based on the size of the room being used, whether the customer wants a facilitator, and other add-ons.
Lost Office’s space features a 48-person workshop space, dubbed The Enclave, and a smaller meeting room named The Flat.
Markow and Brown declined to comment on the investment made in the space, which was designed by Fultz & Singh Architects. RGI was the general contractor. Lisa Markow handled interior design of the space.
Markow founded local consultancy Joe Smith in 2015 and later hired Brown to work there. The pair have since exited that company and together founded consulting firm Amphibian in 2021. They said the plan is to eventually step back from Amphibian to focus on Lost Office.
Lost Office Collaborative is a business development concept that offers rentable office space for workshops and corporate events. (Photos courtesy Lost Office Collaborative)
A pair of local business consultants have thought up a new venture aimed at providing users with an office away from the office.
Christian Markow and Mark Brown plan to open Lost Office Collaborative at Rocketts Landing in early January.
The concept is aimed at companies seeking rentable spaces for workshops, team-building exercises and similar events. The venture’s 6,100-square-foot space at 5000 Old Main St. features two meeting rooms, a coffee bar and a library.
With its blend of technology, modular meeting space, consulting services and logistical support, Lost Office Collaborative is being pitched as a silver bullet for the challenge of creating and maintaining well-oiled work environments by bringing together the rentable workspace concept with in-house consultants.
“It is premium wellness-driven space to help people come into an environment where they can work together deeply,” Markow said.
“The pandemic revealed an issue that we believe has been going on ever since offices were made. Teams don’t have good places to do what we call ‘deep work’ together, and if anyone has been in an office they know what that means,” he added. “It’s (freedom from) distractions. … No one ever feels like they have everything they need to be equipped to get together and do something productive.”
The space features two meeting rooms, a library and a coffee bar.
Brown said the concept is trying to appeal both to office-based companies looking for a change of scenery from their usual workplace and to firms that tend to operate remotely but occasionally want to gather in person.
“Teams have offices, so we want to be the place in Richmond, Central Virginia, where they’re trying to get out of their normal office space to go somewhere for a really deep work team experience,” Brown said.
“We’re looking at these teams that are distributed, working from home still, hybrid, only coming into the office at certain times. Those companies have divested away from their real estate office space because of that. We want to be a solution for those companies that have gone away from their own office real estate and bring teams together in critical moments.”
Lost Office Collaborative plans to offer the services of contracted coaches and consultants to customers interested in some guidance for their events. Markow and Brown are tapping into their networks to fill out the contractor roster.
Lost Office Collaborative founders Christian Markow (on left) and Mark Brown in the venue’s library space.
They also will call upon Greenhouse Coaching, which has relocated to a space at Lost Office from the Midlothian location of coworking chain Gather. Greenhouse is a tenant in the Lost Office space.
Space rentals at Lost Office start at $5,000. Prices increase based on the size of the room being used, whether the customer wants a facilitator, and other add-ons.
Lost Office’s space features a 48-person workshop space, dubbed The Enclave, and a smaller meeting room named The Flat.
Markow and Brown declined to comment on the investment made in the space, which was designed by Fultz & Singh Architects. RGI was the general contractor. Lisa Markow handled interior design of the space.
Markow founded local consultancy Joe Smith in 2015 and later hired Brown to work there. The pair have since exited that company and together founded consulting firm Amphibian in 2021. They said the plan is to eventually step back from Amphibian to focus on Lost Office.
Congrats Christian and Lisa! Great space!
$5k and up? That’s got to be a typo.
A workspace for 48 people? Great! Where do we park?
Plenty of free parking in deck right behind building 🙂