Serviced office operator Knotel has announced it will offer its empty office spaces to governments agencies dealing with the coronavirus emergency, which may include conversions to medical use or housing National Guard operations.
The company has forced over 80% of its customers to work remotely and kept new members from moving in.
“Everything’s empty right now,” said Amol Sarva, CEO of Knotel. “But there are emergency services that are desperately looking for places to put beds, places to do screenings, places to do testing. When the National Guard is in a city, it’s going to need a place to be. We are in discussions and showing different governments what we can do for them.”
According to Sarva, ten people on the company’s management team have taken pay cuts to keep the company afloat, including Sarva himself.
The company has coined this initiative as “Spaces for Cities” and is calling on other various organizations, such as the Real Estate Board of New York, to join its efforts.
Data from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development has found that the U.S. has 2.8 hospital beds per 1,000 beds and now, the government is rushing to add more.
Sarva added that Knotel will be laying off employees as the company restructures at this time, but the exact number has not been finalized. Earlier this year, the company had let go of 24 employees in its New York City market.
