The talented young professionals who can revitalize Toledo may be coming to a rented cubicle near you.

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Co-working spaces have taken off in larger cities as millennial professionals who have embraced the gig economy look for the best environments in which to work. These often self-employed professionals — designers, consultants, writers, to name a few — don’t always take jobs at traditional corporations with brick-and-mortar headquarters. And they often prefer co-working to working from a home office or a coffee shop.

Toledo has Seed Coworking in the Warehouse District, and now Sylvania officials have suggested copying that model with a new co-working space in the suburbs.

Sylvania Economic Development Director Bill Sanford believes such a space would attract ambitious new entrepreneurs. If he’s right, that could help build a new generation of business and civic leaders for the region.

Hickory Farms CEO Diane Pearse decried the Toledo region’s lack of talent when she decided to move her company’s headquarters to Chicago. Young professionals in technical fields and savvy entrepreneurs who are likely to be drawn to co-working spaces are just what Toledo needs.

An enterprising, young, self-employed professional may not be able to afford space in a downtown office building, or even a unit of suburban office space of his own, but he probably can afford a couple hundred dollars a month for access to a co-working space. And in that space these up-and-comers can meet peers with whom they’ll network throughout what will hopefully be long, prosperous careers in Toledo.

Mr. Sanford is on the right track. Our region should follow this example and create the environment that will attract and retain the young talent our businesses, civic institutions, and neighborhoods need.

First Published March 27, 2017, 4:00 a.m.