Benjamin’s Desk opened its newest spot at 1608 Walnut Street

Benjamin’s Desk members now have another Center City location to pop into: that 11,700-square-feet space at 1608 Walnut St. that we told you about in August soft-opened on Tuesday with 13 companies, including children’s educational app company SmartyPAL, municipal bidding company and longtime Benjamin’s Desk tenant Municibid and startup fellowship program Venture for America’s new cohort.

The space, housed in the new Sun Oil building, is part of the local coworking troupe’s expansion across the Philly area, with a location at 1313 Innovation in Wilmington, Delaware, Grays Ferry’s Pennovation Center in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania and Montco’s Ambler Yards as the most recent landmarks.

13 companies have joined Benjamin’s Desk’s second Center City location. (Courtesy photo)

Anthony Maher, Benajamin’s Desk Co-CEO, came up with a new name for Walnut Street: the “Walnut Street Innovation Corridor.” (That’s because the company’s other two Philly-proper locations are on the same street: the original 1701 Walnut location and Washington Park’s 601 Walnut space in the Curtis Center.)

“Opening 1608 Walnut means that the Philadelphia entrepreneur and the Benjamin’s Desk network can officially call Walnut Street home for the next 15 years,” Maher said in an email. “We can’t wait to see the innovation ripple throughout our great region.”