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Brooklyn Brainery to Open Creative Space in Prospect Heights

By Sonja Sharp | January 3, 2013 5:17pm

PROSPECT HEIGHTS —  Central Brooklyn's laptop-packed coffee houses are about to get a run for their money after Brooklyn Brainery, a Carroll Gardens venture best known for its eclectic evening classes, announced it will open a creative workspace in Prospect Heights.

"It's really surprising how few coworking spaces are located in the Central Brooklyn area, especially given how many people work from home," said co-founder Jen Messier. "We've long wanted to keep the space open during the day and create a community around that, as opposed to just classes, and so when we found the space in Prospect Heights, all the pieces really came together." 

The organization got its start as a place for creative Brooklynites to share their passions and pick up new ones with modestly-priced classes featuring everything from HTML to philosophy. Though they plan to keep their current location on Court Street, Messier said the new space at 190 Underhill Ave. fulfills a long-held ambition to serve those same crafty types during daylight hours. 

"In addition to hosting evening and weekend classes as we currently do in Carroll Gardens, the space will be open during the day for freelancers to work out of," Messier said. "I work from home a lot and know how challenging it can be to even find a spot at a coffee shop in the neighborhood."

Though the Underhill Avenue offshoot won't be up and running until February, it will open its doors to freelancers on Jan. 18 for a sneak preview in honor of Worldwide Jellyweek, an international event intended to encourage creative people to work together in the same physical space. 

"When we saw that this particular space was for rent, we fell in love with how beautiful it is and the wonderful backyard," Messier said. "The space in Carroll Gardens has always been temporary, and we'd been looking for a permanent space for quite some time."