Meridian — Kiln is bringing a new way to work to the Treasure Valley this spring. The Utah-based flex-office and coworking brand is establishing a new location in Meridian in partnership with Ball Ventures Ahlquist and Ball Ventures at the Eagle View Landing development near Eagle Rd. between I-84 and Overland Rd.

Kiln Meridian will occupy 50,000 square feet on the top two floors of a Kiln-branded building at 1120 S. Rackham Way that shares the parking lot with the Topgolf facility slated to open in the next year. Kiln founder and CEO Arian Lewis anticipate the Meridian site will open in April.

He says Kiln — which has five active locations in Utah and Colorado and another four in development counting the Meridian site — provides amenity-rich, all-inclusive workspace experiences that differ dramatically from typical shared office and coworking spaces and other professional office environments. Its flex-office space is designed to accommodate individuals and teams of two to 50 and is optimal for creatives, startups, and enterprise teams.

“Kiln is a boutique, lifestyle-focused coworking brand that is primarily driven around the well-being of our members and enabling teams and individuals to perform at their highest level," Lewis says. “As a result, we have allocated a lot of square footage dedicated to communal amenities that look after the physical, social, and emotional wellness of our members. We have put a lot of time and thought into developing meeting rooms and amenities that enable teams to collaborate and to communicate effectively with one another."

Most coworking spaces typically have a kitchen, a few meeting rooms, and private offices. Lewis says Kiln Meridian will also offer access to cycling and treadmill desks, refresh rooms with massage chairs, a private fitness studio, and healthy food and beverage offerings served daily.

The site also will boast a podcast and video recording studio, a barbershop, and a theater with a capacity exceeding 75 people that will host a variety of technology, entrepreneurship, and wellness programming. Some of that programming will be open to the general public, which can also book the site as a meeting room and event space venue.

The company — which designs and manufactures its own series of bespoke furniture products for its facilities in its London, England, design center — is also introducing a brand-new, space-efficient “video pod" with the launch of its Meridian site.

Lewis says its array of amenities can help reduce members’ overall human resources budget.

“We focus on how we can help companies and teams and individuals perform at a higher level, and the aesthetic and the amenities and the overall offering of Kiln generally saves companies about 5 percent on their overarching HR spend," he says. “The reason it saves our members money is because Kiln is very helpful in recruiting, retaining, and enhancing talent — especially Millennial talent. This is because we offer companies a set of amenities and an experience that elevate the employee experience beyond what others are typically offering.

“This not only gives Kiln members an advantage in terms of hiring but also buffers new employees with a variety of resources and provides them with an easy way to build friendships and relationships that keep them engaged in their job."

Memberships start for as little as $245 per month and allow 24/7 access to all of Kiln’s sites, including their shared amenities and shared desk areas. Memberships run on a month-to-month basis and require only 60 days’ notice to terminate tenancy.

Kiln Meridian has room for more than 600 members, counting individuals and teams, and offers four membership levels:

* Club — A shared workspace experience for members who don’t need a dedicated private area and pack in and pack out each visit.

* Resident — Popular with individuals and small teams, this level provides a dedicated desk with storage so members can leave their monitors and other gear at Kiln and enjoy a small base of operations.

* Private — These smaller private, enclosed offices are designed for 2-12 members and secured by lock and key.

* Studio — Optimal for teams of 12-50, these individual studios are fully furnished private workspaces with at least one dedicated, internal meeting room.

Regardless of membership level, Kiln workspaces are turnkey.

“All of our spaces come fully built out, meaning members can move right in without spending more money," Lewis says. “We have a lot of soft furnishings in the public areas. Sometimes people add a few things to their office, but the environment overall is designed to be all-inclusive and frictionless."

He says its workspace solutions allow companies to grow and shrink as needed.

“We typically cater to teams of less than 50," Lewis says, “although sometimes we’re seeing remote-first companies of up to 200 use Kiln as a home base where they may only have desks for 25 people, but people are rotating in and out. It’s a plug-and-play model and all of our products are fairly modular.

“That way, if you’ve got a bunch of interns joining for the summer, you might just get club memberships for them instead of getting them a private office. It makes the process of growing, shrinking, expanding, and going through the ups and downs of building a business really easy for companies. And it also means they’re converting what would’ve otherwise been a long-term liability on their books to short-term, monthly overhead."

Lewis and his colleagues are excited to be opening Kiln’s unique brand of coworking community in the Boise metro area, noting the region’s recent population boom.

“Going a step further from that, we just fundamentally believe people want to live at the intersection of good work and good lifestyle," he said. “The Treasure Valley offers Kiln a chance to engage with a customer who really is aligned around wanting to live in a place where they can access the mountains, or they can jump on their bike, or where they can get to a river, and they can have a good work experience and not be fighting the kinds of congestion and other downsides you find in other states and other cities."

He says Idaho also offers a very business-friendly environment, especially for startups and early-stage tech companies.

“What excites me most about the Treasure Valley is the chance to bring a product to that market that is unique and different from anything it currently offers," Lewis says. “And to see the kinds of personalities and characters and the creative and ingenious entrepreneurs that come out of the woodwork because they want to be part of our community. Kiln is a world-class place to build a company, and we’re already seeing the early signs of a really positive, strong ecosystem coming together."

Before launching Kiln in 2018, Lewis and UK-based co-founder and creative director Leigh Radford spent the better part of a decade building a similar brand called Rise for the British multinational financial institution Barclays. During their tenure, Lewis and Radford established coworking spaces in New York City; London and Manchester, England; Tel Aviv, Israel; Mumbai, India; Cape Town, South Africa; and Vilnius, Lithuania.

“We were oftentimes the first coworking space to go into those markets," Lewis says. “Once people understood the value of coming to work every day at a place where there are people who are building similar kinds of companies and where they can share experiences or learn from each other or help one another, they realized they have a resource that can help accelerate their growth and emotionally it can be a good support to them they’ve never had before. It’s really exciting to watch people reinvent the way they’re building their companies because they now have this new capability and resource they can tap into."

The company plans to open a second Boise site. Lewis did not disclose a timeframe or location, but says, “We’re bullish on Boise," and Kiln wants to establish the next space “as close to the blue turf as possible."

He’s excited to partner with Ball Ventures Ahlquist and Ball Ventures on the Meridian project.

“We really like these guys," Lewis says. “The team at Ball Ventures Ahlquist and Ball Ventures believe in the community, they’re well established in this market, and they’re good to work with. We can already see this becoming an important and long-term partnership. And this new development they’re creating is really the perfect meeting point for folks who are building a company in the Treasure Valley.

“We think that’s the perfect location for them to coalesce. The founders might be in Meridian and maybe they have employees north of there and some team members that are downtown. That location is a good central meeting point, it’s very convenient to get on and off the freeway there, Topgolf will be across the parking lot, there’s a hotel and residential units going in, and good shopping and restaurants within a quick walk or drive. It’s going to become a genuine hub for tech, as well as just for having a great work experience."

BVA CEO Tommy Ahlquist concurs.

“The opening of Kiln Meridian is the exciting next step in establishing Eagle View Landing as a true mixed-use development where people can work, live, and play," Ahlquist says. “Kiln’s quality and care in their flexible coworking spaces and services is unparalleled, and we are proud to partner with such an innovative and forward-thinking company."

Lewis and Ahlquist says to phone Kelsey Glazer at 208.616.2429 or email her at kelsey@kiln.co to arrange a tour of Kiln Meridian.

Eagle View Landing is a 73-acre mixed-use development that will feature class-A office, hospitality, multifamily living, retail, and corporate campus spaces. Site highlights will include Idaho’s only Top Golf Venue, a 200-room Hyatt Place Hotel, Idaho Central Credit Union’s corporate headquarters, 369 multifamily housing units, over 625,000 square feet of class-A office space, premium retail suites, and notable new tenants to the Treasure Valley, including Kiln. Located at the intersection of Idaho’s busiest freeway (Interstate 84) and Idaho’s busiest road (Eagle Road), more than 200,000 cars pass the site daily, providing some of the best visibility in the state.

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