Entrepreneurs in the Fargo-Moorhead area will have one fewer space to congregate by the end of this week: CoCo said it’s closing up its downtown Fargo location on Friday.
 
The collaborative and co-working space for freelancers, small businesses and work groups opened 10 months ago, but was never able to build up a “sustainable” member base.
 
In an email sent out to CoCo collaborators, the company said the decision was made “very reluctantly and after much consideration.”
 
The Fargo office opened with great fanfare from the company and as its first office outside of the Twin Cities. In June 2014, CEO Kyle Coolbroth said in a statement that there’s “an extraordinary level of enthusiasm and commitment in this city.” The expansion to the FM area was the result of a three-year collaboration by the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corporation, real estate development firm Kilbourne Group and the entrepreneurial digital publication Emerging Prairie.
 
The company does see a silver lining in the closure. “We’ve discovered that our model of coworking may not be well suited for smaller, emerging markets. As a result,” the company said in an email.
 
CoCo will direct its focus toward “new growth opportunities” where coworking demand already exists.
 
The company maintains locations in downtown Minneapolis, Uptown and St. Paul.