Young Professionals Are Blurring The Lines Between Work And Life

The line between work and life has started to blur as offices are going beyond simply providing typical workplace amenities and focusing more on hospitality and domestication.

Now, lifestyle companies have started partnering up with coworking spaces to meld wellness services with workspaces. For example, luxury fitness chain Equinox recently announced a partnership with coworking firm Industrious to include offices within their fitness centers. The first Industrious at Equinox location is expected to open up in Hudson Yards in Manhattan.

“Basically, people who own space are trying to figure how to keep people in them,” said Joel Kotkin, a presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University. “Particularly when the traditional work environment is disappearing—the idea of somebody having a cubby in an office—then you have to think of other ways to get people to occupy space.”

Kotkin believes that more building owners will continue to find new ways to keep people in their spaces, and that is where one-stop shop, mixed-use spaces come in.

This has been driven by a cultural shift among Millennials, where their work defines their identities and is leading cities to change how they develop. More and more, young professionals are choosing to live in downtown areas where they are in close proximity to gyms, nightlife, work, and other daily amenities.