Click here for Part I

Providing space for Delaware’s upstart business community

Robert Herrera is co-founder of The Mill, a coworking space in Wilmington, Delaware. Finished in 2015, The Mill provides working areas, fast internet connections, and other local benefits to small businesses, startups, freelancers, and remote teams. Members can buy 24/7 access to desks or private offices, and can book conference rooms of various sizes. Tenants include Aztec Exchange, Bifferato, Fair Square Lending, Tapp Network, Sports Challenge Leadership Academy, and many more. Robert, the project’s lead architect, previously worked at international architecture firm Perkins Eastman. The Mill opened its doors in April 2016 and membership filled up almost immediately; another stage of construction is currently underway.

Robert Herrera spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: What were your priorities in designing The Mill? What features did you want to include, and what was most important for the Delaware coworking community?

ROBERT HERRERA: I always had a lot riding on my design capabilities, but on top of that the psychology of human beings and what they want and what the need in a workplace. All that’s missed, even in the bigger guys everywhere else—they don’t pay attention to those details. I walk into spaces and I see it right off the bat: things about where privacy film goes; the spacing of desk and why I’m three feet away from this guy, rather than two feet, rather than five; why I need a hardline data drop with the secure server rooms. You know there are so many check boxes that these other places didn’t have that I thought would be interesting after talking to people around town. But, to be honest, I sat in my competitors’ places, people I worked with—I’m friends with the people who run them, and I talked to them and just got a better feel for the market. I am proud to say that we have not taken anybody from either of those locations. So it’s not like I came and soaked them both up like everybody was worried about. And we’ve sold out where they haven’t. I think a lot of that is just the way we approach the problem, the way we built our space. I think that people appreciate, particularly in Delaware, those little details being thought through.

In Delaware, I joke that everybody wants everything perfect and for free, because if you give them something free, they’ll still complain about it. So, I managed to find a mall that I could charge for and they still appreciate it because I went above and beyond probably even what I would do elsewhere. Knowing the Delaware market, too, and the psychology behind it, particularly in Wilmington, I went the extra mile to involve so many people in the project outside of myself, so that the community really embraced us and felt like they’re part of it. Everything, from our conference room tables—that just happen to be a ping-pong table dimensions—was custom-built by the Challenge Program, which is a local nonprofit that works with the inner-city kids to teach them millworking skills. That was an amazing experience. I love working with the kids there, loved working with their amazing organization. That’s one example—to getting Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head to supply all our beer on draft. He’s a local Delaware rockstar and Brew Haha! is the famous coffee shop in town that does very well against Starbucks and all the other guys. I just cold-called the owner, sat down with her, had an amazing time, and all our coffee is not with Aramark—some of my competitors are with the other big coffee guys—we have locally roasted coffee, and we have Brew Haha! coming on Mondays to make lattes and espressos for everybody just because they’re so excited to be a part of this. I don’t know any other place out there that checks those boxes, and I will take them with me as I begin to grow this because they have been such amazing people to work for and with and around.

In addition, a good friend—Jim Buckley—we built an American chestnut, huge docking station table, something around 30 feet long. As a local artisan, I have been trying to build a table like that on my last 15 projects. The way modern construction is everywhere else in the world, it’s super expensive and to get a very cheaply made plywood table that’s laminated, and ours is made out of American chestnut wood, which went extinct 150 years ago—because of again local talented Delaware artisans. When you come off the elevator, too, we have a Hagley museum patent model display. So the history of innovation, particularly in Delaware, is told right through walking through our doorstep as you come into our main lobby. We have these stunning patent models that are changed every three months, which I think tells the narrative, and again: try to find any other competitor that has those sort of details worked out. I think that’s the benefit of Delaware. All the reasons why people told me not be in Delaware are all the reasons why it’s done well.

Connect with Robert on LinkedIn

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Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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