There is a cafe and coffee shop circuit in every city that serves as the office for many freelancers, entrepreneurs and off-site workers. You’ve seen them. They are typing away at their laptops with the focused precision of a brain surgeon. When they come up for air they often are ready for their third or fourth round of espresso or a little chat with their neighboring typist. Then, they are desperately searching for an outlet for their rapidly dying battery. What are these people doing? How can they work to the sounds of frothing cappuccinos and pumping music?

These are the people who fall in between. Cubicle city does not work for them. Nine to five makes them squirm. Yet holing away in their lonely home office is about as appealing as the four meeting workday. Excruciating.

When one is an unofficial member of the café circuit one sees many of the same people over and over again. Often, due to deadlines, time constraints or other variables, they tend to keep to themselves even though they desire to be around people. Collaborating is not often the focus.

Finding the perfect balance of atmosphere that they crave with the practical aspects like being able to place or take a phone call is tricky. There is a virtuoso’s set of criteria that must be in place for something productive to come out of this environment.

That internal struggle and overwhelming desire to be motivated if not inspired by one’s working environment and be round people has created a new business model that is being replicated all over the nation.

Coworking is its name. Coworking has an additional benefit that takes it to another level. Collaboration. Coworking is not only about the perfect space to work in but it is about the alchemy of combined entrepreneurial pursuits benefiting from open communication with each other. This is an aspect not easily achieved in a hit-or-miss atmosphere like a coffee shop. There are three coworking spaces slated to open in Austin in 2008.

Launchpad Coworking and Café has a crew of dedicated and passionate people designing an environment that may suit a person desiringa well planned and professionally managed community. They are opening in September in downtown Austin.

Conjunctured is a coworking company that focuses on collaborating in a well thought out but slightly less formal space than Launchpad. They are located in Central East Austin in an older bungalow adapted for its use. It maintains an environment more similar to the quirkiness associated with working in a coffee shop. They opened on the first day of July.

Soma Vida strives to be a coworking space with wellness in mind. It is an integrated community that focuses on nurturing and support for each other. It is the only coworking space that offers on site childcare. The coworking space opened also on July 1st. It is located in Central East Austin. Their childcare and yoga facilities are set to open on July 15th.

Ki is a real estate agent in Austin. His site is focused on Austin Texas real estate and provides a search for Austin homes. His blog is updated monthly and provides statistics on the Austin real estate market.

802 San Marcos Street, Austin, TX 78702 // (512) 472-8180 The French Legation Museum provides a uniquely historic experience. Both a historic site and a house museum, the story behind the establishment of the museum is fascinating, and helps to illuminate a way of life experienced by the residents of old Austin – before Texas was a state. Visiting the house and grounds, with its carefully chosen artifacts, brings the story to life. With many cultural events, educational programs, and supplementary information on their web site, the museum preserves and perpetuates a unique piece of Austin’s colorful heritage. The French Legation is located in central Austin just south of French Place.

The word "legation" originally referred to a diplomatic representative office just below the status of embassy. Sent by the French Legation of Washington D.C. in 1840, Monsieur Jean Pierre Isidore Dubois de Saligny intended to establish the French Legation of the fledgling Republic of Texas. Renting quarters on Pecan (now Sixth) Street at the corner of Guadalupe, de Saligny was appalled with Austin’s lack of urban sophistication, evidenced most egregiously by the pigs a local farmer allowed to run free in his yard. He determined to build a home and office worthy of a French diplomat.

De Saligny found himself at odds with the locals, both culturally and politically, and he was soon recalled from his post, leaving his servants behind in the building he had designed. A short time later, when the seat of the government was moved from Austin, the building was abandoned. When Texas was annexed as a state, the structure and its surrounding grounds were sold, eventually being purchased by John and Lydia Lee Robertson, who raised their eleven children in the house. When the last of those children died, in 1940, the property was placed under the custodianship of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who have operated the site as the French Legation Museum since 1949.

Restoration of the property began in 1953, with an effort be faithful to the period in which it was built. Although only three pieces of furniture currently on view belonged to de Saligny, many pieces remain from the Robertson family's ownership of the home. Gardens and outdoor landscaping, although not authentic to the bare dirt yards of early Texas, provide a refreshing oasis of green in a busy city, and make this one of the premier locations for weddings and other formal functions.

The French Legation Museum is committed to education, providing guided tours in addition to having curriculum supplements for elementary and middle school teachers available on their web site. During the summer, the museum often hosts a history-based summer camp, allowing children to immerse themselves in 1880's Austin. They offer different cultural events as well, including a twice monthly tournament of the traditional French game petanque on the lawn, and evening concerts under their beautiful old oak trees. Their annual Bastille Day celebration features French music and food, and their association with the Alliance Française d'Austin helps perpetuate a unique piece of Central Texas heritage.

Ki looks with buyers interested in Austin Texas real estate. Buyers can search for homes online using a Austin Texas MLS search or read updates on the market on his blog covering Austin real estate.

When Austin’s airport moved to its current location at the old Bergstrom Air Force base, the Robert Mueller airport became 711 acres of land just east of Interstate 35 ripe for developing. The city of Austin, along with the Catellus Development group, have created a master plan that includes a variety of housing styles, private businesses and retail stores, and are attempting to make the entire “city within a city” as green as possible.

This area, now referred to as the Mueller development, has three housing types available in their first phase of building: yard houses, garden court houses, and row houses. The prices for the first phase range from the $180,000s to the $600,000s, and are 900 square feet up to 3,700 square feet in size. Though 350 homes will be built in the first phase, the development is planning to build 2,200 in total. Six different home builders were chosen to participate during phase one, including 3 locally based builders, Saldana Homes LLP, Streetman Homes Inc. and Muskin Co.

Though some of the homes may be a little cookie cutter in appearance, others are built in a traditional Austin bungalow style, and seem to fit in with their new central location. None of the new homes are built in the currently popular modern style, but it’s possible that different builders will be chosen for future phases of building, to diversify homes as much as possible. All homes built in the Mueller Development have alley ways behind them, with garages built on the backside of houses leaving the fronts garage-free, with more room for larges porches. This also makes the streets and sidewalks more pedestrian friendly.

The initial phase of homes created a large amount of interest, and Catellus Development set up a lottery-style system by hiring a company to randomly create a priority list of buyers. To keep in line with the development’s vision of a mixed income neighborhood, a certain number of homes were set aside for families making at or below 80 percent of Austin’s median income. All of the “affordable housing” homes were sold, and 265 total homes were purchased, with the remaining homes offered to the public.

Many of the businesses in the Mueller Development opened before any residents moved in. Some big box stores are already open, such as Best Buy and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but other private businesses are also moving in. Seton Family of Hospitals is building their 165,000 square foot headquarters in the development. Not only are they the second-largest private employer in central Texas, but this will also be the first headquarters of a large company to move east of interstate 35. Seton’s new facility, the Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas, will open next to the new headquarters in 2009.

One of the Mueller Development’s major objectives is to be as green as possible from the ground up. They will have shops, recreation, entertainment, jobs and transit close at hand, in hopes that driving will be kept to a minimum. Giant solar collectors are being built along the new hike and bike paths to provide shade in the daylight, and light up the paths in the evening. Austin Energy has also built a new power plant on site that not only supplies electricity to new residents, but also sends chilled water for air conditioning to nearby businesses. The power plant generates power in a cleaner fashion, while the shared HVAC system lowers energy costs.

The Mueller Development is the right spot for those looking for a newly built, centrally-located home, offered at a reasonable price.

Escapeso Realty operates in the Austin real estate market. They provide a search of the Austin MLS along with a free mortgage calculator.

Just east of IH-35, in the center of Austin, lies an area that is becoming a popular destination for Austinites looking for a central location that doesn’t come with the price tag one would pay in other centrally located areas. They also don’t lose any of the historic charm or lack of small local businesses within walking distance by moving to East Central Austin.

There are several small central east side neighborhoods, such as Blackshear and East Cesar Chavez, but the Cherrywood area is quickly becoming a new favorite; its subdivision known as French Place is being referred to as the new Hyde Park. Lying between 35 and Airport boulevard, north of Manor and south of 38th ½ Street, French Place was originally owned by the Giles family in the 1940s. It is filled with one story single family homes and some multi family duplexes, located on wide, tree-lined streets. The majority of the single family dwellings hover around the 1,000 square foot mark, and have been well maintained throughout the decades. The area has a wide variety of homeowners of different ethnicities and professions, as well as many students due to its close proximity to Concordia University and UT. Each December, the Cherrywood Art Fair is held, showcasing pieces from the area’s artists, accompanied by all day music and activities for the kids.

Central East Austin is home to several historic sites. The French Legation Museum is touted as being Austin’s oldest structure still on its original site at 802 San Marcos Street. The home was originally built in 1840 for a French representative sent by King Louis Philippe of France to determine if the Republic of Texas should be considered its own country. In 1848, the French Legation became the home of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Robertson, and it remained in their family until 1949, when it was taken over by the state of Texas.

There are two historic cemeteries in Central East Austin. The Texas State Cemetery was established in 1851, and is the final resting place for many of Texas’ state officials, dating back to the Republic of Texas days as well. Famous Texans such as Stephen F. Austin and Lieutenant Governor Bob Bullock are buried here. The Oakwood cemetery is located just north of the Texas State Cemetery, and was established in the mid 1850s, and legend has it the first bodies laid to rest were victims of a Comanche Indian attack. Different sections of the cemetery are dedicated to Austin’s black, Latino, and Jewish populations.

There’s plenty of entertainment and local eatery options for those in the Central East Austin area. Live music can still be found at the historic Victory Grill, established in 1945, and was part of the original “chitlin circuit”. Across the street from the Victory Grill on East 11th street is the Longbranch Inn, a nice little bar that became so popular the owners had to buy another place on East 4th, the Scoot Inn, to make room for the crowds and live music acts. Hoovers restaurant, run by Night Hawk alum Hoover Alexander, is a great mix of BBQ, Cajun, Tex Mex and soul food. Down Manor road lies El Chile, opened by ex Jeffrey’s employee Carlos Rivero, and serves top-notch interior Mexican food and Tex Mex, with their to-go eatery El Chilito down the road. Joe’s Bakery and Coffee Shop on East 7th Street has been in business since 1963, serving up Mexican and baked goods from family recipes for over 40 years.

Moving to East Central Austin could snag a house hunter a nice home at a fair price, but even those not in the market for a house can spend some time taking in the history and a great meal or two.

Escapeso Realty operates as a small company in the Austin real estate market. Their site has a free mortgage calculator along with a free graphical search of the Austin MLS.

With East Austin’s affordable housing prices and close proximity to downtown, it’s long been a hub for Austin’s musicians and artists. Over the years the different artists in East Austin started to work and collaborate with each other. Over time this has turned into an event called the East Austin Studio Tour. This allows for artists to see what other people are working on and a chance for people to purchase art directly from the creator, in addition to seeing the studio where the pieces are created. It also allows the artists to get their work viewed by a large audience of interested people and potential buyers. This kind of grass roots endeavor is one more way Austin attempts to keep true to its slogan of “Keep Austin Weird”. One weekend in November each year, artists open their studios to the public during the East Austin Studio Tour. Each year, over 100 studios, and more than local 200 artists, will be participating on November 17th and 18th. There’s a wide variety of people, styles and mediums on display.

The Bearded Lady and Obsolete Industries have been providing silk screened delights to the Austin community for years. Album art to gig posters, t-shirts to wrapping paper, these businesses do it with flair. Mark Macek and Brian David Johnson, two members of the splinter group coop, are master woodworkers. Macek now teaches Woodworking and Furniture Design at The University of Texas School of Architecture, and Johnson sells his uniquely designed tables at the local upscale design store, IF+D.

If it comes giant sized, Blue Genie Art Industries is likely behind the project. They’ve painted murals that cover the entire building of the Austin Children’s Museum, as well as creating an 8 foot tall black-eyed pea for “First Night, an Austin’s New Year’s Eve event. The Austin Metal Authority cranks out iron and steel the old fashioned way- with fire, an anvil and a sledgehammer. Hand forged headboards, iron gates, and swords pour out of their shop.

Touted as a “Must See Flagship Venue”, the Pump Project Art Complex is a collective of over 30 artists. Along with hawking their wares, artists will explain their artistic techniques, demonstrate tools used in creating the art, and discuss their recent works. The Austin Figurative Gallery also houses a wide variety of local artists, skilled in painting, illustration and a variety of mixed media.

The East Austin Studio Tour lists all the studios and their locations in the weeks leading up to the tour, along with the most bike-friendly routes to take (a highly encouraged mode of transportation between studios). Picking up a piece or two straight from the artists themselves, not only helps out the local art community in Austin continue to thrive, it’s also a great way to get more insight on a unique piece of art that a store purchase just can’t provide. Its also a great way to be exposed to a number of different Austin artists and to view the projects they are working.

Ki is a realtor in Austin. He runs a site with a search for homes in the Austin MLS along with providing information on Austin real estate. He posts updated monthly stats on the market on his Austin real estate blog.

Though Austin is known for being the live music capital of the world, and home to the Texas government, today Austin’s art scene is on the rise with different art collectives and galleries popping up around town. Many of these studios are manned by recent graduates of UT’s studio arts program, giving them a reason to stay in Austin after graduation. Downtown Austin has recently gained some very classy, upscale galleries. The Lora Reynolds gallery opened in 2005, with an Andy Warhol exhibition of trial proofs and unpublished prints, dating from 1974 to 1986. Recently, they featured a collection of paintings from young Eastern European artists, establishing the Lora Reynolds gallery as the first commercial gallery in Austin with an international program. Not far from the Reynolds gallery is 4 Walls fine art, which opened its doors in March of last year in the historic Heierman Building built in 1887. Michael Terrazas, the gallery’s founder, got assistance from Rick Black architecture to transform the building into a beautiful open space, with an upstairs studio loft available to traveling artists. Terrazas, who also owns Club Deville and SoCo eatery the Woodland, taps into his other businesses to ensure a deliciously catered reception to accompany their contemporary fine art shows. The east side of town has seen rapid growth in young, scrappy art complexes, which are using readily available, and affordable, warehouse spaces to show off their creative pieces. The artists who make up Okay Mountain embody the new, young face of the art world, with witty, laid back attitudes complimenting their professional gallery. Though many shows pull from talented local artists, Okay Mountain has also brought in artists from Argentina, Japan, and Egypt. Their open house parties are dramatically different from those downtown, with more of a beer keg party feel, and nearby neighbors, made up of artists and musicians, show up in throngs to add an extra charge to the atmosphere. Art Palace is within walking distance of Okay Mountain, in an old East Austin home. The Art Palace works differently from the majority of East Austin Studios, by emphasizing works of one of Austin’s emerging artists at a time. Six years ago, the buzz from the art community on the east side of Austin was so loud, the city of Austin, along with a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, helped fund the East Austin Studio Tour. Once a year, East Austin art studios hold open houses, and make an event out of visiting the various art complexes. The Arthouse, located on Congress Avenue in the heart of downtown Austin, is the oldest visual art organization in the state. Arthouse was originally named the Texas Fine Arts Association in 1911, and was set up to promote art in the state of Texas. The non-profit group went on to establish the studio art department at UT, and found many of the state’s major art museums. In 2002, the Texas Fine Arts Association changed their name to Arthouse. Arthouse provides contemporary art programming year round, and is free to the public. They also help the local art community by providing affordable health insurance, banking opportunities, and discounts on art supplies. Biennially, the Arthouse gives away the Arthouse Texas Prize, a $30,000 prize given to an up and coming contemporary Texas artist. The Arthouse Texas Prize is the largest regional visual arts award for emerging artists in the United States, helping build homegrown talent. If you are looking to explore Austin and the Austin real estate market Ki can help. His site has information on his Austin real estate blog along with a free search for homes in the Austin MLS