IRVING PARK — A new coworking spot aimed at parents who work remotely and need help watching their kids is gearing up to open later this fall.
Le Village, 3148 W. Irving Park Road, will offer limited on-site childcare for 3-hour segments Monday through Saturday. Rates are between $45 for a day pass and $999 a month for unlimited access to the coworking space’s facilities.
“The idea came about for me after my daughter was born. I was working for this great company that had a staggered back-to-work policy,” said Daniella Cornue, owner of Le Village. “So I was allowed to work from home multiple days a week.”
At first she thought it would be a great way to be with her child and get work done. But she soon realized she wasn’t able to be as productive as she thought she was going to be.
“I had stars in my eyes at first being able to be home and take care of her while doing all these other things at once,” she said. “But I realized I needed someone to take care of my daughter because I ended up not getting anything done, and my time with her while I worked was too choppy and not dedicated to her.”
One day in February, after sharing her frustrations about this with her mother in a phone call, the phase, “It takes a village to raise a child” kept coming to mind. That’s when Cornue had the idea for the new coworking space.
“How do I find a village. My mom lives in Ohio. I’m here. So I decided to look for coworking spaces for parents and went online to look. There’s some people toying with it in New York but not here,” she said.
Flash forward nine months later, and Cornue is building out her new location to include things like a sound-proofed working area for parents, children’s areas with parent check-in points, conference rooms, nursing booths, a cafe, outdoor patio and playground.
She chose to open in Irving Park, just south of Albany Park, because she lives in the area and knows how diverse and family friendly it is.
“There are a lot of co-working spaces Downtown and that’s great. But from my perspective, I don’t want to commute two hours. That’s time I could be hanging out with my daughter,” Cornue.
For more information on the coworking space’s pricing and the latest on when it will open visit its Facebook page.
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