Switchyards

Switchyards is an Atlanta-based operator of membership workspaces it calls neighborhood work clubs — spaces positioned as a "third place" between home and a traditional office, located in residential neighborhoods rather than central business districts. A membership grants unlimited access to all clubs, 24/7 opening hours, free locally roasted coffee and organic tea, phone booths and meeting rooms, and high-speed internet, priced at $100 per month [0][1].

The company's website lists 41 clubs across 16 metropolitan areas: Asheville (South Slope); Atlanta (Adair Park, Avondale Estates, Buckhead, Cabbagetown, Chamblee, Decatur, Downtown, Old Fourth Ward, Roswell, Toco Hills, Virginia-Highland, Westside); Austin (East Austin, Hyde Park); Birmingham (Avondale); Charleston (Hampton Park Terrace); Charlotte (Belmont, Oakhurst); Chicago (Fulton Market, Lincoln Park, Logan Square); Columbus (German Village); Dallas (Oak Cliff); Denver (Baker, Five Points, LoHi, Sloan's Lake); Greenville (West Greenville); Houston (East End, Montrose); Kansas City (Crossroads); Nashville (Berry Hill, East Hill, Eastwood, Germantown, Sylvan Park); Raleigh-Durham (Boylan, Central Park); and Savannah (Starland District) [0][1][2].

The concept evolved from Switchyards Downtown Club, a 19,000-square-foot downtown Atlanta space opened in 2016 in a renovated 90-year-old building and originally intended as a hub for Atlanta's business-to-consumer startup community. As membership broadened beyond startup founders to creative professionals, the brand was repositioned as a neighborhood social club and then as a neighborhood work club, with smaller leased locations rolled out two or three at a time [5][6][7].

Founding story

Michael Tavani, previously a co-founder of the Atlanta daily-deals startup Scoutmob, wanted to recreate the atmosphere of the Octane coffee bar where he and colleagues worked and open it to consumer startup founders. Switchyards opened its first location in 2016 in a 90-year-old renovated building in downtown Atlanta as Switchyards Downtown Club, intended as Atlanta's hub for B2C startups. Tavani co-founded the venture with fellow Scoutmob co-founder Dave Payne [5][6][7].

Business model

Switchyards sells recurring individual memberships that grant unlimited access to all of its clubs; the current advertised price is $100 per month, up from a $50-per-month all-location membership described in 2019. The site also references team memberships. Early plans for the neighborhood format called for leasing rather than buying space, offering free basic coffee drinks and pricing any food at close to cost rather than treating food and beverage as a profit center [0][1][6][7].

Subscription membership fees paid monthly by individual members, with a team membership option [0][1]. The CEO told Axios that revenue had doubled annually since 2021 [3].

Traction

The website advertises 41 clubs across 16 metro areas [0][2]. Coverage from May 2024 reported 15 work clubs across the Southeast, ten additional locations planned in suburban Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and elsewhere, and a target of 200 locations nationally by 2029; the CEO said revenue had doubled annually since 2021 [3]. Earlier coverage documented growth from one downtown Atlanta location in 2016 to three by 2019 and five by February 2022 [5][6].

Latest developments

Following a $5 million round led by Bullpen Capital reported in May 2024, the company said it would add ten locations in suburban Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte and other Southeastern markets and reach 200 sites nationwide by 2029 [3]. The company site now lists 41 clubs spanning 16 metro areas, including markets outside the Southeast such as Chicago, Denver, Kansas City and Columbus [0][2].