Shared Space solutions in SF East Bay for a couple weeknight evenings

December 17, 2017 3:01 PM

I'm looking to rent a small room to arrange English writing classes for a few kids (family and friends' kids). I cannot do this in anyone's garage due to various reasons. Are there any viable solutions?

I was hoping to rent out the shared workspace providers since they generally have a conference room available that I can use as a classroom but even those are close to 500$ a month. Since I am not going to generate any money from this and since I would only need the room for an hour or two every week (Tentatively Wed/Sun 5:30-6:30PM) I was hoping to learn from any MeFites of a viable solution.

Am I being too optimistic that I can get a room for under 200? This is off-hours, couple hours a week deal so I don't think renting a space fulltime is necessary or affordable. Any ideas???

Location preference: Fremont or Union City

posted by savitarka to Education (8 answers total)

Not sure how large the group is, but the Fremont Public Library has study and meeting rooms you can reserve. They aren't guaranteed long-term, but the study rooms are free, and you could try to reserve them on a regular basis. You'd have to decide whether the uncertainty is outweighed by the free room.
posted by zachlipton at 3:08 PM on December 17, 2017 [6 favorites]

Local community center?
posted by tipsyBumblebee at 3:09 PM on December 17, 2017

Response by poster: Thanks Zachlipton.. I had mistakenly assumed that the Library closes earlier and looks like this is a viable option if the study room can be reserved in advance on a regular basis.

The group size is 4 kids for now but could be a max of 7 kids.

tipsyBumblebee.. the community centers have larger rooms and require a 6 hour minimum reservation. I considered it but looks like they are not viable for my purposes.
posted by savitarka at 3:13 PM on December 17, 2017

If the Fremont public library doesn’t work out, you might want to try contacting a few churches in the area and see if they could work with you for your amount. It’s a long shot, but if the church needs money and there’s already a class going on at that time in another room, they might be open to it.
posted by umwhat at 3:20 PM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks umwhat.. that's a great idea. I'll leave this open but I have enough leads to get started.
posted by savitarka at 6:51 PM on December 17, 2017

Zachlipton accidentally linked to the wrong Fremont Public Library -- that one is in Illinois (and their hours are impressive indeed!).

Fremont, California's Public Library is here.
posted by LuckySeven~ at 9:46 PM on December 17, 2017

Response by poster: Great catch Luckyseven!! You saved me an embarrassing phone call :)
Looks like my Fremont's hours won't for the days I'm interested in.
posted by savitarka at 10:11 PM on December 17, 2017

Ack! I knew it was too good to be true.
posted by zachlipton at 5:57 PM on December 19, 2017