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🎉 Coworking celebrations.
🎊 PON hits 1k milestone #
The Preferred Office Network shared that they’ve officially hit the milestone of working with 1,000 locations, across 15 countries and 400 cities. Congrats!
👉 Read this.
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📰 Coworking news & views.
🧮 Is 95-97% occupancy too high? #
Katharine Lau shares an interesting lesson they learned about the self storage business from an early investor. When sharing that Stuf’s portfolio was hovering around 95-97% occupied, it was explained that this was TOO HIGH and that occupancies should run closer to 90%. The lower occupancy meant that the firm was charging the highest possible rates and maximizing revenue potential.
This is something I think a lot of coworking spaces can learn something from. Sitting at "100% capacity" (if that’s even a real thing) could actually man that the business could be charging too little, and isn’t making as much revenue as it could be.
👉 Read this.
😳 Are these things that flex brokers actually do!? #
Michael Dubicki from Flex Engine shares a fun Friday post, that honestly had me shook to the core. In it he shares "10 Commandments" for flex space brokers, which if is a hint at what’s happening on the other side of the brokerage table, I’m honestly surprised that anyone is signing up for coworking.
Things like sending 20 buildings when a client asked for a specific one, or sending another 20 before qualifying their needs, or even asking for higher fees just before clients sign. What!? Are these actually happening?
👉 Read this.
🐦 An excellent example of a fly-through tour #
Gina Schreck from The Village Workspace shared their fly-through virtual tour. Unlike other drone-recorded videos, there seems to be something more engaging about this one.
Personally, I love how this one highlights the personality of the space, it’s community and the surrounding neighborhood that makes them… well… them.
👉 Read this.
⚠️ 3 warnings issued to flex space operators #
Will Kinnear from HEWN shares how flex space businesses can build more successfully using lessons from the last few years’ ups and downs.
In short they are sticking to your strategy and business model (and agreements you fully understand how to operate within), avoiding over-extension through unsustainable growth and looking 6x at potential new locations.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇭 The coworking story that led to a space launching at Zurich airport. #
Great to take a look at Emanuel Forny’s coworking story. From banking, to founding Tessinerplatz in 2018 in Zurich, to being closed out due to the pandemic, to creating Novu Campus in collaboration with Novu Office, Memox and Swisspreneur opening in 2025 at Zurich Airport.
👉 Read this.
💻 How to leverage SEO to boost your flex space performance #
If you’re interested in being found online, SEO is a powerful marketing technique every coworking or flex space operator needs to have some insight into. This extensive resource, put together by the OfficeRnD team, shares some expert tips and tricks that can make the difference with regards to being found on web results, in Maps, and elsewhere.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 The 60 year story behind The Factory London #
Stuart Bluman shares the remarkable story behind The Factory London. The story that starts in 1964 with a clothing factory and lands up with a 3500 sqft coworking space (and a new career path) in London.
👉 Read this.
🏋️♀️ Are micro gyms the next revenue driver? #
The team at Spacebring explore if micro gyms (small-scale fitness facilities typically between 1k and 5k sqft) are an interesting, and profitable, addition to your coworking offerings.
This is a trend we’ve been following for a little bit, with some successes on a larger scale from brands like The Ministry, TOG and others.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
💰 Romanian flex platform makes menu and payment acquisition #
Pluria, founded by Andrei Cretu and Gabriela Draghia, the platform that focusses on connecting distributed teams with nearby workspaces (predominantly in Latin America and Europe) announced that they’ve acquired Bili a solution for menu ordering and payments used by cafés.
This acquisition helps the platform provide better experiences to the F&B focussed locations within their networks, which sometimes include traditional cafés which are now "part of the new work infrastructure".
👉 Read this.
😣 Are you asking the right questions of your data? #
Shariq Kochhar from Nexudus shares why space management (and the related data it involves) is like an iceberg, requiring advanced analytics to truly understand the business.
I like how the post looks at using data "the right way" by focussing first on the right questions, and then looking at what story the results tell you. In short, the more granular you can get with your questions, the better insights you can gather.
👉 Read this.
📈 Coworking data.
🏡 US sees 1% growth in suburban coworking spaces in 2024 #
According to CoworkingCafe‘s annual Coworking Suburbs Report, the number of coworking spaces in suburban areas in 2024 saw a 1% increase nationwide compared to the previous year. There are 43 suburbs nationwide that each boast at least 10 coworking spaces. At the metro level, they focused on the ones that have at least three such suburbs, to highlight the top 5.
Other findings include that in 2024, 45% of all US spaces were in suburban areas, totaling over 2,500 suburban spaces vs 3,100 urban ones. Regus led the suburban expansion (with 427 locations) followed by OpusVO and HQ with 79 and 61 spaces, respectively.
Los Angeles metro area takes the crown for the highest number of US suburban coworking (303), with Irvine as the top suburb in the nation, featuring 38 flex spaces. Washington, D.C., and Dallas round up the podium, checking 84 and 66 flex spaces, respectively. Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston, Dallas and San Francisco all have more coworking spaces in their suburbs than their urban centers, highlighting a significant shift in coworking space distribution.
👉 Read this.
🤔 Are Monday’s back for you? #
Jules Robertson from Tally Workspace shares a data snapshot from ‘The Scaleup Culture Report’ that seems to highlight that Monday’s are increasingly popular (compared to last year) across almost all age groups.
Are you seeing Mondays becoming a little buzzier in your space and neighborhoods?
👉 Read this.
🤑 Swedish operator reports 86% growth in turnover #
Swedish coworking and flex space chain Ioffice Business Centers reported it’s 2023 financial results which included a total annual turnover of SEK 209M ($19.77M) from operations across 28k sqm (301,389 sqft) of office space. This number is up 86% from the previous year.
👉 Read this.
🕵️♀️ More tenants factoring landlords’ debt into leasing decisions #
Damla Gerhart from Avison Young shares some interesting numbers from traditional office deals, highlighting that increasingly the debt profile of landlords is being factored into leasing decisions.
The data set and piece itself is very (VERY) CRE and traditional-lease-heavy, but definitely worth keeping in mind if you’re expanding, negotiating with landlords or own your own building(s).
👉 Read this.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🧑🎨 The Malin opening a 10k sqft location in Savannah #
Charlie Robinson shared that The Malin are expanding to Savannah, Georgia. The 10k sqft location, will feature private offices, dedicated desks, meeting rooms and phone booths. The city is also home to SCAD, one of the top art and design schools in the US.
👉 Read this.
🇳🇱 Dutch brand raising €1.3M via crowdfunding round #
The team at startdock share that they’ve already raised €1.06M of their €1.3M crowd, or sharefunding, round. The funding page shares that the firm, that launched in 2018, is that they’re aiming for a network of 10,000 members by 2028.
👉 Read this.
👩🍳 Workbox opening 60k sqft in star studded Fulton Market #
Workbox share that they’re assuming operations of 6 full floors (nearly 60k sqft) of space in the Fulton Market neighborhood, with their CEO John Wallace noting that this "was one of the last major Chicago submarkets" they wanted to add to our portfolio.
This space, the largest in their network, was previously a WeWork location.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇹 Operator shuts down due to unacceptable condition of building #
Trending Topics highlights that The Talent Garden have decided to close their Vienna location due to the "unacceptable condition of the building". The space, which has been closed since May 7th due to water damage, had been redirecting their members to other hubs (like The Social Hub, Startup House, WeXelerate or CoWerk) while members waited to see if they’d reopen after repairs.
The firm then notified members that after an inspection, and the landlord’s refusal to put the building in the agreed condition, they were forced to terminate their tenancy agreement with immediate effect.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Sofia Stolberg (from PilotoMail and Piloto 151) joins Liz Elam on the GCUC podcast to unravel the dynamic landscape that of where coworking and virtual spaces overlap.
John Preece from Hub Australia joins Jonathan McFarlane about the integration of real estate and technology in creating flex workspaces, and coworking trends on the PlaceOS podcast.
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak from EXPANSIVE interviewed Sarah Maffei (Momberg), Vice President at Foundry Commercial about the evolving landscape of commercial real estate, the complexities of making real estate decisions today, and her insights on creating strategies that enhance work.
Christian Schmitz from Salto Wecosystem joins Omar Tarek on the Engage podcast to discuss how traditional real estate is pivoting from building single-purpose buildings to building an adaptable, multi-purpose buildings to meet the dynamic demands of modern living and working.
