I’d like to introduce myself to the community – my name is Brian DiFeo, the Community Manager at the Hive at 55 and the newest member at the Alliance for Downtown New York. It has been a month since I started working here and I am still learning a lot about the Hive, the Alliance, and the neighborhood. Combine the fact that I love history and architecture with my lack of knowledge about Lower Manhattan, and you may mistake me for a tourist snapping pictures or gazing at the marvelous buildings.

I’ve never worked in this neighborhood, and honestly haven’t visited it in a long time. That’s New York for you: I’ve lived here for 9 years and I just discovered Stone Street! But I have been impressed with the juxtaposition of globally known landmarks close to mom and pop shops and small cafes. And I did most of my holiday shopping within walking distance of my new office.

As for the Hive, the first month has been a wonderful experience. I started on the night of the launch party and met dozens of fascinating people. While the holidays slowed our traffic, it let me focus on how the Hive operates and consider the ways we can get more people interested. Since the New Year, a lot more people have been working here and it’s always a pleasure to meet them.

I used to work from home and I can definitely relate to the folks who come through the Hive’s door – it’s a sense of relief to realize others have been trapped in their apartments, in front of a computer, with minimal human interaction. Enter the Hive, and you feel the warmth and energy immediately. Members have all types of professional backgrounds, and they learn about the Hive through press articles, forwarded emails, blog posts, and word of mouth. But each member has at least one thing in common: they found a collaborative work environment that is somewhere between a coffee shop, an office, and a home.

The “community” side of things is picking up, with people chatting around the coffee pot and sharing ideas related to work, lunch spots, and everything in between. The members are gaining a sense of “belonging” here, as the coffee mugs accumulate by the sink and some cereal gets left in the cupboard. There has been a lonely scarf on one table that no one seems to know what to do with; maybe we will create a lost-and-found box, another benchmark reached as the Hive develops its identity as a coworking community.

I’d like to introduce myself to the community – my name is Brian DiFeo, the Community Manager at the Hive at 55 and the newest member at the Alliance for Downtown New York. It has been a month since I started working here and I am still learning a lot about the Hive, the Alliance, and the neighborhood. Combine the fact that I love history and architecture with my lack of knowledge about Lower Manhattan, and you may mistake me for a tourist snapping pictures or gazing at the marvelous buildings.

I’ve never worked in this neighborhood, and honestly haven’t visited it in a long time. That’s New York for you: I’ve lived here for 9 years and I just discovered Stone Street! But I have been impressed with the juxtaposition of globally known landmarks close to mom and pop shops and small cafes. And I did most of my holiday shopping within walking distance of my new office.

As for the Hive, the first month has been a wonderful experience. I started on the night of the launch party and met dozens of fascinating people. While the holidays slowed our traffic, it let me focus on how the Hive operates and consider the ways we can get more people interested. Since the New Year, a lot more people have been working here and it’s always a pleasure to meet them.

I used to work from home and I can definitely relate to the folks who come through the Hive’s door – it’s a sense of relief to realize others have been trapped in their apartments, in front of a computer, with minimal human interaction. Enter the Hive, and you feel the warmth and energy immediately. Members have all types of professional backgrounds, and they learn about the Hive through press articles, forwarded emails, blog posts, and word of mouth. But each member has at least one thing in common: they found a collaborative work environment that is somewhere between a coffee shop, an office, and a home.

The “community” side of things is picking up, with people chatting around the coffee pot and sharing ideas related to work, lunch spots, and everything in between. The members are gaining a sense of “belonging” here, as the coffee mugs accumulate by the sink and some cereal gets left in the cupboard. There has been a lonely scarf on one table that no one seems to know what to do with; maybe we will create a lost-and-found box, another benchmark reached as the Hive develops its identity as a coworking community.

This week I have to keep the blog post short- we are up and running and have lots of people working!  The Hive is really buzzing!  Our launch party was on Tuesday night and we had such a great turnout!  State Senator Daniel Squadron came to show his support of the freelance and small business community and Bill Rudin of Rudin Management also came and mingled with many of the new coworkers of the space.

There was great food and drink provided by our sponsor, Harry’s Italian – I still have leftovers people are nibbling at!  You can go to www.hiveat55.com/photo-gallery to check out some photos from the night!  It was so great to celebrate the launch of the Hive with so many of you – and I hope to see everyone again soon at the Hive!  If you came you got to see our first piece of art up on the wall – our logo is up in 3D!  I hope to get a lot of art up on the walls soon and I realize I need to bring some plants in too!

Other exciting news is that we brought our new Community Manager on board this week.  So when you come to the Hive you will meet Brian DiFeo who will be getting to know all our members and taking everyone’s comments and ideas for the Hive.  You can always reach us at hiveat55@downtownny.com if you have any questions or comments!

For those of you who have not checked out the Hive yet – we are offering a promotion for first time users to test-run the space!  From now until December 22^nd, come in and try out the Hive for a free day!  So come check out the Hive and see what all the buzz is about!  Just email us at hiveat55@downtownny.com with the subject “Free Trial” and let us know what day you plan on dropping by!  We are open Monday to Friday 9am – 6pm and Thursday until 9pm!

Hope to see you soon!

So I know by now you have all marked your calendars and waited with anticipation for our open house days. Well – they’re upon us! (And don’t put away your planner just yet – you have another don’t miss date to write down.)

Yesterday was day one and we had great turnout. Of course, I hope everyone loved the space as much as I do. I expect to spend many hours hanging out in the lounge in our awesome swivel chairs. If you haven’t been able to swing by, you’re in luck – there’s still time. We will be hosting another open house day today and also on Monday the 30th.

I imagine many of you freelancers will be distracted by all the family obligations – all that turkey, stuffing, and of course football that takes place over Thanksgiving – you’ll probably need an opportunity to buckle down and get some work done following this indulgent holiday. Well, come on over to the Hive on Monday, November 30th and get down to work – it’s the last of the open house days, and an opportunity to see the space, take a tour, have your questions answered, and of course, work (by the way, you are always welcome to just pop-in to the Hive at any time and do any of the above as well!)

I know you have been waiting patiently to hear about this “don’t miss date,” so I won’t lead you on any longer:

We’re having a party…and everyone’s invited!

That’s right, it’s our inaugural party, and I’m sure it’s just one of many to come. After all, the Hive isn’t just about work – it’s about having fun and meeting some new people too.

Tuesday, December 8th

6pm – 9pm

55 Broad Street, 13th Floor

Please RSVP to attend: hiveat55@downtownny.com

So come celebrate with us – meet some of the behind-the-scenes people who have helped create the Hive, meet some of our sponsors, and talk to us about your ideas to make the Hive a perfect place – it’s your space too and we want to make it great!

You’re invited to an open house! The Hive is just about ready to open its doors, and invites you to come to our three-day open house on November 23rd, 24th, and 30th. Come to the Hive to check out the space, take a tour, have your questions answered, and feel free to even bring your laptop and get down to work. We will be open each day from 9am – 6pm at 55 Broad Street, so tell your friends and come on by!

Tomorrow will be an in-house test run to make sure everything is running properly, and we will work out whatever kinks we find before our official launch – December 1st. So come over to the open house and fill out an application so you can start working on day one (or your can fill out an application here instead).

The past week has been both exciting and frantic. All Hive related contracts got signed and finalized. The flooring went down on Monday, which meant nothing else could really be done to the space on Tuesday. On Wednesday our plumbing got certified, the cabinetry was installed, and furniture began coming in the door. Our WiFi system got tested and it is ready for you to start working.

We’ve also made lots of progress with marketing the space. Ten thousand flyers have been mailed, and we orchestrated a building drop to Lower Manhattan residential buildings with information about the open house. Broadsheet Daily featured us last week and Seth Pinsky, President at the EDC mentioned the Hive in his “Ask About Entrepreneurship” Q & A in The New York Times.

Other exciting marketing news is that our official Web site is about to go live –- no more directing www.hiveat55.com to the Downtown Alliance Web site!

Stay tuned for an early December launch party –- more details to come. I hope to see you at the Hive next week, and as always, if you have any questions, you can reach me at hiveat55@downtownny.com.

Directions to the Hive at 55 Broad Street, 13th Floor: 4, 5, 2, 3 to Wall Street; J, M, Z to Broad Street; A, C to Fulton Street; PATH to World Trade Center or just click here.