Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
With her genuinely good heart and a wealth of experience behind her, Susannah works to connect local business and non-profit leaders to their neighbors. In a community like ours in which so many have invested their lives, there are fantastic stories all around us that motivate and inspire, often right next door. She hopes to share some of those here, on the Good Neighbor Podcast. Book an interview today at GNPAuburn.com
Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika
Ep.#103: Inside Opelika’s Colab: Workspaces That Build Community
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We sit down with Elizabeth Boyle, general manager of Colab in downtown Opelika, to explore how a onetime Woolworths became a flexible home for private offices, coworking, and studios. The story blends renovation, hospitality, and community into a hub where work actually works.
• What Colab offers across offices, coworking, conference rooms, and a shared studio
• Renovation and expansion to 46 offices plus nearby satellites
• Building history and ties to downtown Opelika
• Elizabeth’s hospitality background shaping member experience
• Use cases for remote workers, travelers, teams, and creators
• Overcoming a past reputation from prior iterations
• Practical sound mitigation with white noise and velvet
• Why community, socials, and shared spaces set Colab apart
• How to book tours and explore membership
colabopelika.com
334-748-9700
Welcome And Guest Intro
SPEAKER_00This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Susanna Hodges.
SPEAKER_02Welcome, and with me is Elizabeth Boyle, and she is the general manager of a very unique space in downtown Opalika called Colab. Welcome, Elizabeth. Thank you. Glad to be here. So tell me a little bit about Colab. I am familiar with it, but my listeners may not be. So what do you guys do at Colab?
SPEAKER_01Great start question. We um do quite a few things at Colab. Primarily, we offer private offices and co-working space. Um and then recently we've also opened a location that features a shared photography studio. So everything's really community-oriented. Um, but for the most part, it's uh private office space and co-working space.
SPEAKER_02That sounds really cool. I actually uh when I first started my business several years ago, um, I actually had a space there at Colab and really enjoyed it. And uh boy, it has grown a lot since the 2019, 2020, uh where where I was there. Um so cool, so much fun. Uh tell me a little bit about um how Colab got started and uh you know the impact it's making on our community here in Opalica.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So it's been through a few different iterations. Um Colab itself hasn't, but this building has hosted a few different iterations of something similar over the years. Um, when you were here, was it was it Collaboration Station at that point?
Origins And Renovation Story
SPEAKER_02You know what? I think it was just about to change its name to Colab. So it was right there, right there when they were making those changes. And it was right before they did all the renovations, too. So I was there while they were under construction for the beautiful space that it is now. Not that it wasn't nice before, but man, y'all have really stepped up the game there.
SPEAKER_01Thank you. Yeah, we've definitely put a lot of love and um time and hard work into it to try to make it the best it can be for everybody here. Um and I would invite anybody who's seen it in one of its past iterations to come back and check it out as it is now. Because as you said, it really has changed a lot. Um, but with Colab, the current owner, Deke Hillier, um, he bought the business um and kind of continued the concept because the members that were here before, like yourself, um basically begged him to keep the doors open for them because at the time they didn't have another office space to go to to work. So he said, um, challenge accepted, and if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it right. So he added on, I think, 21 new offices to what was existing in the building already, bringing the main location to 46 offices. And then we've got satellite locations. So one of those has 19 offices, one has six offices, one has four, um, and they all kind of offer something a little different, but they're all under that same collab umbrella.
SPEAKER_02And all of these spaces are in Obalaika?
SPEAKER_01Yes, they are all within walking distance. Um, so from the main location at 216 South 8th Street, they're all within a block or two.
Expansion And Satellite Spaces
SPEAKER_02Okay. Well, tell me a little bit about your journey into uh the Colab and maybe some of the history of Colab.
SPEAKER_01Oh, for sure. Um, so I guess starting off with my journey and how I got here, my background professionally has um, you know, I've gotten to do a lot of different things and learn a lot of different avenues in the professional world, most of which were in the hospitality industry in one way or another. Um, whether that was office management, I worked at Stone Martin Builders before, so I got a little experience there in the office world, um, but mostly in hospitality management. So restaurants and coffee shops over the last 10 years uh really prepared me for this role. Um, and I got really lucky. One of my friends had an office in here, and she let me know that Deke was looking for somebody who she thought that I would be a good fit for the role. Um, so I applied and he interviewed me, and I'm very lucky to have landed in this position.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01And a little history of the building. Uh in 1950, this was a Woolworths building. So um department store.
SPEAKER_02How about that?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely very cool to see some of the newspaper clippings from that time. You could get a steak dinner for 65 cents. Oh my god. So we keep a little bit of that history um up on our community bulletin board for people to check out when they come through for a tour.
Elizabeth’s Path To Colab
SPEAKER_02Very nice. So y'all have uh made good use of that space there in uh downtown Opalika, right in the middle of the city. I just I just really love uh the times I get to go there. So, what are some of the um, I mean, how can you use that space? Uh, what are some of the ways that people use uh Colab?
SPEAKER_01Great question as well. So we've got a lot of people who use it more in the traditional sense. They're just looking for a private office space for either them or their small teams, um, a lot of remote workers, but we also get quite a few people who come in um just passing through and need a good quiet place to work or study throughout the day who might be on the road. Um so we get a lot of little one-off bookings, whether that's for day pass, um, just co-working, or even the conference rooms we offer public bookings for and the studio that I'm in right now is great for podcasting. So a lot of people will pop in and do a podcast.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So lots of different ways you can use the space there and uh get involved there at Colab. So uh a little bit about you. Let's turn the focus to Elizabeth here for a minute. What do you like to do for fun when you're not working at Colab?
Building History And Local Roots
SPEAKER_01I um I love art of all kinds. It's kind of hard to narrow down, but anything creative that keeps me in that flow um creatively. So painting, photography, drawing, and then uh recently I've picked up yoga doing that pretty regularly too. So still in that flow of creativity there.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yeah, well, that sounds neat. So um part of the reason I do this podcast is to encourage others to, you know, follow uh their dreams, to follow those ideas that they get going into business. And uh there's always challenges in life and in business, and um, it makes us stronger people and makes our business stronger. So, what are some of those obstacles or challenges that Colab has been through that's made this space what it is today?
SPEAKER_01So a little bit of a funny story there. I know some of the locals might be aware. Uh, one of those iterations previously was uh something called Roundhouse. So overcoming um a little bit of a bumpy reputation there was an obstacle for us in the beginning. Um, I'd like to say now I think we're pretty well past that, but it still does come up every now and again with someone who did get to see um that business and how it was operating and are very curious to know if we are affiliated in any way with that. So combating that rumor mill a little bit, but I'd say that was that was a long time ago.
SPEAKER_02And yeah, and Colab is just a wonderful space. Uh and and yeah, you can give all kinds of challenges that businesses have to overcome, and that was a significant one. But oh my goodness, it it shaped who you are today.
How Members Use The Space
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And then another big one, um, a little off the wall and something a lot of people probably wouldn't think about, but sound mitigation in a space like this uh was kind of an obstacle. We battled a little bit right out the gate. Um, when you've got 46 offices in one building and they're not all in one business together, you could imagine noise being a little bit of an issue for some people. So we've added these white noise machines throughout the building that kind of hush your neighbor so you can't hear them quite as much. Right. And then um, we've really used velvet of all things to our benefit there because it really does absorb a lot of that sound.
SPEAKER_02I have every time I've been, I've never noticed a sound problem. So y'all have got it under control.
SPEAKER_01Glad to hear it.
SPEAKER_02Well, tell me a little bit about uh one thing that you wish people knew about Colab that they may not realize.
SPEAKER_01I'd say it it doesn't just stop at providing the space. Um, we really do foster a community here. Um, it's a great place to connect with locals and people that you might not have met from other walks of life. Um, and really cool to see where your paths do kind of intertwine along the way.
SPEAKER_02Yes, and that is true. From my time there, y'all have socials, you have a kitchen, you've got all kinds of ways to it. It really, it really is a sense of community there. I would definitely say that y'all have achieved that.
SPEAKER_01Certainly, and I think that's a kind of what you know would set you apart from your normal rental space.
SPEAKER_02Uh yes, absolutely. Well, how can people learn more about Colab and get in touch with you in case they want to take a tour and think about uh being a member there?
Community And Creative Life
SPEAKER_01I would love it if everyone would check out our website. That's collabopaleica.com. Um, C-O-L-A-B-O-Leika.com. And we have a lot of information packed into the website and a little FAQ section that can answer, you know, pretty frequently asked questions. Um and then there's our phone number is listed on there as well, but just in case the listeners need to hear that, it's 334-748-9700. So you can give us a call or you can book a tour online.
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, thank you for joining me today, Elizabeth. I've enjoyed learning more about you and about Colab.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, Susanna.
Listener Nomination And Close
SPEAKER_00Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburn.com. That's gnpauburn.com. Or call 334-429-740.