Constellations, founded by Gene Kansas who is a Cultural Developer and the founder and CEO of Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate, is a culturally-based coworking platform focused on businesses dedicated to civil and humans rights. Vital to Constellations, are three Guiding Principles: freedom of choice, community with retreat, and variety of experience & opportunity. 135 Auburn Ave, home to Constellation’s first coworking space, brings together “diverse thinkers who aim to make a difference in the world.” For over three years, Constellations has offered private offices, studios, and creative space for lease in the historic Auburn Ave building. And now the platform is expanding.
“Our company is turning the former Arden’s Garden space into a Constellations satellite location,” Kansas wrote in an email to What Now Atlanta. “145 Auburn and the Historic Daily World Building will be the storefront, street-level version of the platform.”
The platform has taken over the Auburn Ave storefront previously occupied by Arden’s Garden, a juice and smoothie bar. “We think shared space need not be reserved exclusively for office buildings,” Kansas continued. “Taking a traditional storefront and making it the front door for companies focused on civil and human rights is the goal and feels appropriate at this time in all of our lives.”
Constellations is proudly situated in the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District, the birthplace of Dr. King. According to Constellation’s website, their first building, 135 Auburn Ave, was home to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee offices in the 1960s, which were chaired by Congressman John Lewis. The project’s newest building, 145 Auburn is also of historic significance. “The Daily World Building is a historic place in journalism, and was a megaphone for the Civil Rights Movement,” Kansas added.
Constellations’ satellite location is projected to open in January of next year.
