Coworking has experienced a massive boom in the past decade, making major waves in the commercial real estate industry. But with the emergence of so many competitors, the conversation about coworking has gone from promising to concerning.
The coworking boom has led to supply outweighing demand. Now, operators are focusing on how to bring more members in rather than where to open their next location.
Even more difficult are the companies that do use coworking spaces, but eventually grow out of them. That is why it is vital for coworking providers to have a large sales pipeline to fill these seats once they become vacant again.
Still, companies leaving coworking spaces due to outgrowing them may not be a problem at all. Flexible solutions allow them to grow and expand and while they may leave a coworking space, they can still use flexibility moving forward.
Commercial real estate company SquareFoot recently launched its product FLEX, which helps people leaving coworking spaces find new office spaces.
“Rather than speculatively building cap-ex heavy solutions and then sourcing the customers, SquareFoot is doing it the other way around and bringing their customer to the FLEX solution,” said Brendan, general manager for FLEX by SquareFoot. “The demand for shorter leases on traditional office spaces is clearly there and has been for some time. I know of countless companies who arguably overstayed their time in coworking because they simply didn’t know what else they were supposed to do.”
