In large areas of New York, you may notice that offices are being leased by the dozens. This is a result of using co-working spaces, which is when businesses lease office for satellite offices or their staff members with communal spaces.
These popular office spaces are growing in number. At the beginning of April, there were 204 co-working spaces across New York City. It allows businesses to scale quickly, making them more competitive. They don’t have to move to larger commercial spaces; instead, they lease shared spaces with other businesses where they can place offices without worrying about affecting their main offices or primary location.
Businesses in co-working spaces don’t have to pay for bathrooms, kitchens, hallways or insurance in some cases, making it much more cost effective. Similarly, these businesses often do not pay for cleaning services, internet or even the employee who is at the front desk to help those who come to the offices for meetings or other purposes.
These businesses pay only for what is needed, so it’s no wonder that co-working spaces have become popular in an expensive city like New York. Just five years ago, the co-working sites were an average of 30,000 square feet. Today, they are around 70,000 to 150,000 square feet and larger, showing just how vital these spaces are to growing businesses in the city. It even encourages international businesses to set up Manhattan-based offices, encouraging global cooperation and investment.
This could be a good opportunity to make money on commercial real estate. If you’re interested in opening a shared office space, it may help you fill an otherwise empty space.
Source: New York Post, “Co-working spaces are gobbling up huge swaths of real estate,” Lois Weis, April 23, 2018