When Ryan Hoopes of Cushman & Wakefield helps companies choose new headquarters, he often asks landlords a question that, not too long ago, would have been unheard of: “How do you plan to accommodate flex-space in your building? Because our clients are demanding it.”
Flexible, shared office space — think coworking spaces, incubators, and accelerators — is on the rise in Houston. Over the past 10 years, flex office space has absorbed a greater share of Houston’s office market, growing at a compound annual rate of 17 percent, while the office market only increased at a 1.7 percent clip, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE.
Flexible, shared office space — think coworking spaces, incubators, and accelerators — is on the rise in Houston. Over the past 10 years, flex office space has absorbed a greater share of Houston’s office market, growing at a compound annual rate of 17 percent, while the office market only increased at a 1.7 percent clip, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE.
With flex office space, companies and individuals can rent by the month and by the number of offices and desks needed, which can be scaled as the user shrinks or grows. The arrangement originally solved a problem faced by many startups with too much uncertainty to sign long-term leases. Now the practice has spread to all segments of the office market.
The explosion of coworking space has given rise to a variety of product offerings; it seems there’s a coworking company for every niche.
Into fitness? Life Time Work offers health-centric office spaces (lots of water stations for hydration and plantlife for productivity), and a membership comes with access to Life Time’s high-end gyms. James O’Reilly, president of Life Time Work, said the idea to expand into coworking came from seeing people working in the lobbies of its gyms. Life Time Work opened in City center in May and plans a downtown location in GreenStreet and a north suburb location in Shenandoah to open in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
A frequent flier? Several coworking companies are racing to open locations around the world, sometimes by franchising or buying local operations. Mark Patek, the director of sales for Venture X, said the company has sold more than 100 franchises around the world. “So if you travel to Chicago, New York or London, you can check into Venture X,” he said. The company, which has six locations in Dallas, recently announced it is encouraging franchises to open in Houston.
Hoopes, of Cushman & Wakefield, said he’s seen landlords begin to treat coworking spaces as an amenity, a way to offer companies happy hours, lunch-and-learns and the option to expand when necessary.
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