The whole 3rd floor of the Philippine Center (Philippine Consulate) had been unutilized for the past 15 years. I was in fact baffled why the government did not rent it out. Income opportunity lost.
The good news is it’s now under renovation by a group of four young Filipino entrepreneurs led by JR Calanoc, CEO of Panalo.co and co-founder and managing director of Golden Bay Capital, LLC. JR does the consulate’s website and other digital design and development programs.
KALAWorks is an upcoming co-working space housed at the Philippine Center Bldg. It is going to be managed and supported by a group of Fil-Am entrepreneurs and tech professionals collaborating with the Philippine Consulate to create a versatile and modern creative working space for Fil-Am tech startups and other companies that are interested to share ideas, work with other companies and access top-notch group of advisors, mentors and experts in Silicon Valley, including all support services and resources to help ideas catapult into thriving businesses.
He gave us a short tour of what would be a co-working space similar to WeWork. He and his group envisioned to turn this place into a hub for young Fil-Ams to come and formulate their ideas, share their knowledge, explore new technology, hold office here, interact with other techpreneurs, or just hang out and be comfortable here.
JR Calanoc and one of his partners are tech experts while their two other partners are marketing guys.
The whole floor’s renovation will be finished in a few months.
Good luck to these four young fellows. May KALAWorks succeed.
Those interested to rent a dedicated desk or a co-shared workspace and meeting place, you may contact JR Calanoc at 1-650-834-1331 or visit their office at 447 Sutter St., Suite 405, San Francisco, CA 94108, or email him jr@panalo.co.
