CBRE will dial back on expanding its coworking brand Hana and will operate 10 units for the rest of the year, as opposed to the planned 20.
“We believe we’re well-positioned to take advantage in the flexible workspace market and have positioned Hana to serve enterprise clients that desire private workspaces,” said Bob Sulentic, CEO of CBRE. “However, in the short term, we will slow the pace of expected Hana unit openings in 2020 until we have more clarity around COVID-19 impact on occupier demand.”
Still, CBRE maintains that the flexible office market has a promising future. In fact, the company predicted that the industry will grow to take up over 20% of total space by 2030 even during a recession. Currently, the sector takes up about 2% of total space.
Sulentic added that he anticipates that commercial real estate owners will want to partner with CBRE to operate flexible workspaces within their buildings.