Suburban Flexible Offices Will Thrive Post-pandemic

Felicia Goldstein, owner of female-centric coworking space Havyn, says that her small company has been receiving inquiries from large New York City companies in recent weeks.

In just the past week, her Darien, Connecticut company of about 20 private offices has received inquiries from businesses looking for anywhere from 30 to 100 offices.

“Something nearing a majority of businesses that have a significant portion of their workforce commuting in from Long Island or Westchester or New Jersey are at least exploring the possibility of creating some sort of suburban office option,” said Jamie Hodari, CEO of Industrious.

Hernan Prohaszka, Vice President of Lincoln Property Co., added that although leasing transactions had fallen at the beginning of the crisis, activity is starting to pick back up and flexible office spaces will likely account for the majority of the activity.

“It’s not what brokers want to hear, because it is not how we make money, but it is going to be the future,” said Prohaszka. “Everyone is going to have to learn to live with a little less, because companies going for a five-, 10-year term is just sort of a thing of the past. It is going to be more temporary, short-term, flexible.”

The move towards suburban offices is not a new thing. In fact, a Cushman & Wakefield report found that 40% of corporations moved their headquarters to the suburbs between 2014 and 2018. This has led to an increase in the amount of coworking spaces in these areas.