About a kilometre south of the Monivong Bridge along National Road 2, an old garment factory has been renovated and transformed into Cambodia’s newest and most ambitious co-working space.
“In early 2017, we were given access to this old factory and asked to make something entirely new,” said Corbett Hix, who manages the 17-building compound known as the Factory.
“The idea was to create not only a co-working space, but an entire community to facilitate collaborative interactions on a larger scale,” he said.
At night, the Factory is a dark, cavernous space. Giant fans whir overhead and lights fail to reach the building’s corners. During the day, the space transforms into a bright, colourfully painted office, with even the narrow alleyways running between the compound’s buildings decorated with murals.
The Factory sits on 3.4 hectares of land, making it much larger than the country’s other co-working spaces. But the new project hopes to be more than just a traditional co-working space, with a uniqueness that Hix said would be the key to drawing in clients.
In addition to the co-working space, the compound will also include traditional office space, an artistic hub, a trampoline gym and a dizzying array of food and entertainment options. A skate park has already been set up, and Hix has plans to establish a free-to-use architecture and arts library in the future.
Although the Factory won’t officially launch until Saturday, they’ve already rented 74 percent of the available traditional office space. Co-working space rentals have not yet taken off, with more than 90 percent still available, but Hix said the company expected to see a surge in interest after the official launch.
“The plan is to make the money back, with a 10 to 20 percent profit, within the next five years,” he said.
Five years is an important time frame, because the project may not exist after that deadline. The investors behind the Factory, which include Cambodian entrepreneur Kean Kim Leang, have said they plan to convert the space into condominiums in 2023.
“We have five years, and we have to make this project work,” Hix said, adding he hoped the Factory would be able to last longer than currently planned.
“At the end of one year of operation, we’ll see where we’re at, and I’m expecting them to give the thumbs up or down about whether they want to consider keeping the Factory whole or in part in some way.”
