Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Cat Johnson – Coworking Marketing Maven
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak – Competitive Advantage
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
Jeremy Fennema – Tech Innovation Alchemist
The coworking industry has exploded in the past decade, with the likes of WeWork leading the pack. The startup hopes that its anticipated IPO next month can douse uncertainty in the market, but much of the commercial real estate community is still on edge. Despite this, other coworking firms are eager for WeWork to set a precedent for the rest of the bunch.
“WeWork’s IPO and its eventual stability as a public company will be beneficial, and will be a powerful stimulant of landlord comfort with the industry, regardless of how the actual pricing comes out,” said Jamie Hodari, CEO of coworking firm Industrious. “[Landlords] are trying to understand our industry … Transparency is always helpful in solidifying a maturing industry.”
But that enthusiasm has not swayed skeptics. For example, Marx Realty CEO Craig Deitelzweig believes that coworking is one of the biggest risks in the real estate market during a recession and does not plan on housing any more coworking models within the company’s buildings. Still, WeWork does have a small location at Marx’s 430 Park Avenue building.
[bctt tweet=”WeWork’s reported losses of $1.9 billion last year have also not done much to help coworking’s cause, especially in the face of an economic downturn.” username=”allwork_space”]
Regardless, other real estate companies are confident in the sharing model, such as RXR Realty. The company’s 75 Rockefeller Plaza office building has plans for WeWork to take 90,000 square feet across four floors and Convene to run a member’s club on the 32nd floor.
