When I sat down with Sunday's New York Times, I was surprised and tickled to see a huge picture of Philadelphia's very own Indy Hall on the front page of the Style section. The feature talked about the rise of coworking spaces (you can always count on the Times' trend coverage to be a few paces behind) in New York, Austin and Philadelphia. According to the Grey Lady, this new generation of communal spaces are more specialized, more exclusive and more popular than ever.

It was a funny bit of timing, considering that I spent last Wednesday coworking at 3rd Ward, a Brooklyn transplant opening up at 4th and Thompson (a block north of Girard) and the latest entry in Philly's coworking boomlet. Of course, our city is not alone: According to the Times piece (quoting a survey by Deskmag), there are now nearly 800 commercial co-working facilities in the United States, up from a little more than 300 only two years ago, and about 40 in 2008.

We -- freelance editor, ad sales rep for Philebrity, grad student -- were taking advantage of free open house days at 3rd Ward; the official opening isn't planned until the summer (coworking begins May 15). The beauty and the scale of the project was inspiring and undeniably ambitious.

Housed in a former church, the Philadelphia outpost of 3rd Ward is huge. The coworking space on the third floor is ridiculously, undeniably gorgeous -- soaring ceilings, beautiful wood floors, tons of natural light. There are a couple of large communal tables in the center of the room, with smaller cubicle-like glass-walled offices around the exterior. This enables small companies and partnerships to rent actual offices while still partaking in the coworking atmosphere (and offsetting costs like utilities and furniture). 

Surprisingly, on that particular warm afternoon, we were almost alone in taking advantage of free coworking at 3rd Ward. 

There was something about the size of the space -- especially as it stood empty, hundreds of rolling desk chairs in stasis -- that made me contemplate the current state of Philly's freelance and startup economy. Are we ready for something this grand? This polished? This cool? This Brooklyn? It felt almost aspirational -- like if we can fill this space, we've really made it.

That feeling seemed to apply to the neighborhood as well -- west of Fishtown and north of Northern Liberties, this area has a lot of room to grow. Maybe 3rd Ward is the first step.

Another huge element of 3rd Ward's business model is offering classes in everything from digital design to woodworking to business development. That should help fund the space as the coworking community grows. And prices were affordable -- definitely less expensive than moving from a one-bedroom to a two-bedroom apartment to enable a home office. Plus, look at that ceiling fixture! It's like an artful magazine or movie about creative folks looking for love come to life.

All of this inspires more questions: Is this the future of the urban economy -- small companies in big shared spaces? Does Philadelphia have enough independent workers to fill all our coworking spaces (Indy Hall, CultureWorks, The Exchange, Benjamin's Desk, etc.)? Will the Riverwards continue to develop at a quick enough pace to sustain such a gleaming new-economy mecca? What will the relative success of 3rd Ward tell us about the city we are becoming?

I'm very curious to see what happens -- and the idea of that glorious reclaimed space packed with creative, passionate people is something worth working towards.

LEE STABERT is managing editor of Flying Kite. Follow her on twitter @stabert.