Starting this fall quarter, Northwest University will offer a collective space for a combination of small businesses and entrepreneurs that has already seen success in other cities.

Located in one of the university’s vacant spaces at 6710 108th Ave. NE, the 425 Collective will provide not just available room for small businesses and startups to rent and operate out of, but for Northwest University’s MBA students looking to get a feel for the real-life working environment and experience what startup culture is like, according to 425 Collective’s Interim Director Sam Smith.

“The majority of the people meeting and renting will be everyday businesses from Kirkland, not necessarily connected to Northwest University,” he said. “It’s a collective for Kirkland.

The creators of the collective, John Quick and Jak Moroshan, are Northwest University alumni, who started working on the collective when the university was looking at what to do with its vacant space after the previous tenant left.

“It’s almost twofold,” he added. “To one degree, we can provide a service for the city…Secondly, we have this empty space and as a school it makes sense for us to take the opportunity to run with this and have a better business program. I think it’s a twofold win.”

The 425 Collective was inspired by a similar working space called The Guild, located in a Tacoma warehouse, where a dozen people work.

According to Smith, co-working space will appeal to smaller businesses that need a work space but either don’t have the money to afford bigger office or only require a certain amount of space. These small offices will be wrapped around the outside of the collective, with the middle featuring individual desks for entrepreneurs.

“That’s for a person who has a really good idea, just a laptop and an idea,” he said. “They need a desk space for a low cost per month. For them it works out.

The collective will also have two kitchens that can be used for meetings, in addition to two conference rooms for meetings with clients or team members. The idea for the collective, however, is that having the different groups in the same vicinity will inspire innovation.

“Everybody is working in the same space, crossing paths,” he said. “A lot of creativity really sparks. They’re thinking of new ideas. They can bounce ideas off each other. They can interact.”

Those interested in renting the space or learning more can contact Teresa Gillespie at teresa.gillespie@northwestu.edu