With the goal of promoting downtown St. Paul as a positive alternative to working from home, a downtown co-working space has teamed with the city to host a lottery for six months of free work area, as well as free parking in a city ramp.

Wellworth — which offers conference rooms, private phone rooms and open-air work environments for individuals and small companies — is situated on the top floor of the former Woolworth building along Seventh Place and Minnesota Street. The “Workdays Are Perkdays” lottery, which will select 20 winners by early January, is the brainchild of St. Paul City Council Member Rebecca Noecker and the St. Paul Downtown Alliance, a partnership between major downtown employers and City Hall.

A site tour is required before entering the lottery, and entries must be submitted by Dec. 31.

A $17 million remodel has added two floors to the 1950s-era Woolworth’s building at 428 Minnesota St. in downtown St. Paul and transformed it into a glassy, modern office and co-working facility tailored to a healthy work environment. (Frederick Melo / Pioneer Press)

“All of downtown benefits from having those additional workers,” Noecker said. “St. Paul has challenges, but St. Paul is at its heart a scrappy, creative city. If businesses are having trouble (locating), provide them the concierge service to overcome those challenges and get them downtown.”

The “Workdays Are Perkdays” campaign aims to encourage people “to see downtown as a vibrant workplace option by shining a light on the sun-lit Wellworth space and the activities that are steps away in downtown,” reads the promotional materials, which note that many office workers have grown tired of working from home.

Work from home has its limits

Noecker, who approached the Downtown Alliance with the idea of launching the lottery, said she found few examples of a similar effort nationally.

“Obviously, there’s convenience to working from home in your PJs, but a lot of limitations to that, too,” said Noecker, who called working around peers, restaurants and amenities like a post office a livelier experience than a home office. “The investment on our end is to try to get people over that hump — ‘I don’t know where I’d work, where I’d park, my company may not pay for it.’”

St. Paul city councilmember Rebecca Noecker. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“In my mind, it’s a creative approach to help people see the benefits of working downtown they may not have considered or have had the opportunity to do before,” she added. “If you live in St. Paul and work in Burnsville, you might not have had the opportunity (to work downtown) before. But now if your employer is saying ‘work from home,’ you can.”

The six-month package with paid parking is valued at $1,650, and those who don’t win may still qualify for discounts off a six-month membership. The Downtown Alliance is promoting the campaign with YouTube videos and “influencer”-style Instagram testimonials from active Twin Cities social media users.

To enter the “Workdays Are Perkdays” lottery, visit bit.ly/wellworth-tour.

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