Zach Ware of the Downtown Project: Las Vegas Is Changing

Kira M. Newman Mar 19, 2013 Tweet

The first time we interviewed Zach Ware, who works with the $350 million revitalization project in Las Vegas known as the Downtown Project, he said the word “community” so many times that we added a community counter to the video. (After 3.5 minutes, the total was 13 times.)

But “community” isn’t just a buzzword for Ware. “I have the best job in the world where I work with my best friends,” he says on his website. And he and the Downtown Project team want to bring that feeling to other residents of the area, promoting work-life integration and keeping the feel of community even as downtown Las Vegas grows.

To that end, one of Ware’s latest projects is the Work in Progress 6th Street Workspace, a coworking space that offers classes and social activities. The vision is to grow a network of these spaces that members can freely move between, experiencing new surroundings and meeting new people.

Besides that, Ware is also working on moving Zappos’s campus downtown and funding tech companies through the VegasTechFund. At our SXSW Startup Celebration sponsored by CEA and .CO, he sat down to tell us about the “black card” coming to Vegas, his latest projects and challenges, and (of course) community. Here’s the video.

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Editor’s Note: Thank you to Yappem, the title sponsor of Tech Cocktail’s special SXSW video series. And thank you to Keep America Beautiful, the supporting video sponsor.