It's International Coworking Day!!

I have literally been waiting months for #internationalcoworkingday to share this post. ?

A few months ago, I represented The Verve Partnership in attending the #GCUC conference in #Chicago this past spring and it was hands down, the best real estate, event I’ve been to in a Long. Long. Time. (Probably since the last #GCUC conference). GCUC - Global Coworking Unconference Community ?

For those who don’t know, GCUC was created in 2012 as a place to connect collaborate and grow. What began as a conference has grown into a community where there are crazy resources, discussions, curated experiences and panels that are Game. Changing. ?

At the intersection of things we love to talk about The Verve Partnership #hospitality #experience #realestate #design #technology #wellness #thefutureofwork, #people #purpose #place, this conference provides two full days of jam-packed access to content you just don’t get anywhere else.

?#Theseareourpeople and they are #JUICY #GCUC.

Summaries of our favorite take aways:?

Mark Gilbreath hasn’t missed a beat since I met him back at a #WorkTech Conference in SanFran in, maybe, 2010-ish. I sat next to him as he was on the cusp of LiquidSpace He’s come a long way and shared some sweet insight! ?

HARNESSING HYBRID

The office industry is a $4trillion #dumpsterfire. #GetOutNow

Coworking space types, up until Covid were not recognized nor accepted as relevant options for small business or enterprise organizations, because the coworking mindset isn’t readily understood, or known, often b/c traditional transactional brokers (tenant and LL) don’t make enough money when their clients choose coworking space over conventional office leasing.

Building owners, landlords (LL), developers and specifically tenants, must start thinking about the strength of non-traditional leasing deals and building amenities which can attract and support new and existing tenants.

?#ListenUp! Buildings with a strong commitment to amenities will lease 25% quicker than those without. (A JLL stat)

?HINES, one of the largest private real estate developers in the world, data tracked why tenants were leaving their buildings, which were designed for an 8am-5pm workday/five day work week; do people still work like this?

NO

?And they haven’t for a while. ?

Hines found that their tenants were leaving because their buildings had no amenities and no “there/there”. ?In 2017 Hines then started diversifying product types and now has a flex model called “Studios”. ?

Locally the COPT Defense Properties #COPT product #CIRQL is really good example of this type of developer driven building/portfolio diversification, which was in 2014-way before “its” time. #COPT has always been forward thinking.

#CIRQL is a branded experience, with short term leases where tenants have access to formal conference rooms, casual meeting rooms, a coffee bar and are able to host events in a shared lobby that houses these different space types. #amenity

#FunFact @TheVervePartnership created the #prototype for @CIRQL in 2013 prior to its development and launch.?

Sadly and still, many developers are building products that no longer align with the culture of the fabric they are woven into, nor align with the needs of the knowledge or learning worker, regardless of generation.

They are building buildings that people just don’t want to occupy. ?

This is an old stale model that is expensive, doesn’t work and is irrelevant.

The real problem with all this, is that in 2023/24 25% of all US office products are facing refinancing and guess what. LL’s trying to refinance buildings that are 75% empty might be #f*cked. (not my words).

?HOW DO “WE” FIX THIS?

We can start with the age old adage;

?“You cannot fix a problem in the context with which it was created.”

?#traditoinalofficeleasing #brokers #transactional *not strategic ?

?Thought Starters:

·????????LL who invest BIG in amenity creation and improvements will definitely reap the rewards.

·????????Even better if a developer or LL invests in experience and quality.

·????????Even better if the developer or LL takes the time to get to know and is laser focused on all the end users.

·????????Even better if the developer or LL perform at a level of consistent delivery (which is rare). Consistency breeds loyalty. Loyalty breeds trust. Trust builds relationships. Relationships build business. #SpeedofTrust

·????????Even better if the execution of an experience was simply stellar.

·????????Even better if the developer or LL doesn’t sneak amenity costs into the rentable common factor.?

These will be the ones who succeed; and shouldn’t have been this way all along? #SpeedofTrust

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HYBRID IS NOT NEW!

Hybrid has been around for well over 25 years. (think “drop-in” desks, hot-desking and hoteling) ??

And…

Coworking as we know it today has been around for just about 20 years. Yet, it took a global pandemic for these two #futureofwork catalysts to integrate and thrive. ?

Hybrid and remote work behaviors align perfectly with coworking spaces and programs. Hybrid is not only about internal policies, but they are about choice of how to work, where to work and when to work. ?

Hybrid + coworking=rethinking space and developing workplace strategies that matter.?

Whether one is a small business or start up occupying less than 5,000sf or are moving into “enterprise” solutions over 5,000sf the opportunity to dig deep and understand space utilization is critical to the financial success of the organization and therefore the real estate they intend to occupy.?The reality is that coworking will work quite flawlessly if a business needs less than 5,000sf.

?As a point of note #flexspace is coworking adjacent; take a look at Spark Flex and Baltimore Peninsula #flexoffice #specsuites two great local to #Baltiamore #Charmcity options.?

Of course, the white-hot center in flex and coworking spaces are meeting areas. Big. Small. Open. Closed.

You name it. People want them and they need them. Even more than they need their office.?

And FFS. Fridays are not dead. They are super relevant in the coworking community. A day to connect in and outside your organization and chill, make friends, have lunch or coffee. #friendshipfridays.

EXPERIENCE MATTERS. ALOT

Whether your coworking space is boutique, franchised or themed, the user experience is directly impacted by the design of the environment, the quality of the spaces, the programs and amenities provided and the relationship between the user and the community manager. (or LL)?

Much like a hotel experience, there is a measurable ROI in high touch hospitality in the coworking vertical. Hotels are in the service industry. So are coworking spaces. The most successful ones are those with a community manager who kills it #everyday #all day Maggie Terhune ; because you can’t teach caring. This woman cares more than most.

Hospitality driven spaces put the effort in upfront, with the understanding that people will pay more for a great experience. Key design feature includes the white-hot (new favorite term!) meeting rooms, an amazing kitchen/café with free beer, wine, nitro, a variety of waters or straight up black coffee, as well as unique features such as?mediation rooms, podcast rooms or a dedicated mothers room and of course bike storage and showers, maybe even daycare.?

Brand integration is key as well since not all coworking spaces are equal. Brand expression in NYC is going to look and feel much different than in KCMO; this is a critical part of the business plan and the story-both of which are gravely important to attracting and retaining new members.

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CASE STUDY

F50 Company #01

End user had a fixed single office HQ in El Sequendo, CA with 793 employees. Due to Covid, eventually?took a loss and left the buildingbehind in 2022 and provided employees “on demand” work spaces (i.e. hubs) distributed through out, generally, the LA Basin with a 100% choice on where they could or wanted to work (i.e. spokes). They tracked the utilization of the spokes and after three months of being given agency noticed a clustering of people working together, so they implemented their own hub and spoke model.

PHASE 1

Taking stock prior to implementing a distributed work model F50 Company #01 was paying $583k/mo, with one fixed office and 793 workstations and private offices with a myriad of meeting rooms.

?PHASE 2

Upon implementation of a distributed work model with 60 clustered spokes they now pay $43K/mo and employees are choosing where they work, with significantly less commute times.

?PHASE 3

Added an experiential hub which acts as a small HQ primarily with the white-hot center meeting rooms and kept the spokes and are paying ~$20k/mo. Thereby saving +~$520k/mo.

?Results

·????????People come to work and enjoy it b/c they don’t have to drive in LA traffic.

·????????People therefore are engaged.

·????????When they are required to come to the hub it isn’t so big of a deal.

·????????Economics are blatant.

·????????Happy people working in better spaces, driving less miles and the planet smiles.?

My Last Nugget-it’s a good one.

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PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS

Trying to change an entire industry is crazy, but the pandemic instigated 20 years worth of pent up real estate frustration and #transformation in 2 years with coworking and flex space at the frontline of change.

This change is an exit from the traditional leasing and occupier model which is hard to lease, therefore hard to finance. ?

Data suggests a few things:

·????????The proverbial “WE” could get rid of 20% of all office buildings; outfit the remainder with both non-traditional and traditional occupiers and create high touch, high quality amenity spaces thereby improving the asset. Lenders would understand this model since it is blended.

·????????Office isn’t dead. Its just different. There was no retail apocalypse. Its just wound up being different.

·????????Bullet point one and two suggest designing and planning office space similar to that of a mixed use development. Which suggests using predictive analytics based on behavior modeling data collection can inform readily available facts and figures into real estate strategies.

·????????Other things that impact commercial real estate that are being somewhat ignored, but can be assigned tangible data are: HR, Security, IT, Transportation (i.e. commute). Traditional real estate developers and brokers must start to understand all the data impacting their assets or tenants, but as it stands most just don’t know what to do with it. (the data)

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THE END

In closing. Isn’t about time you took a look at the #coworking mindset, regardless of your organizations size. (https://tinyurl.com/2ky8vv9n)

There is a lot to learn about the industry that seemingly has only positives.

Where are you working today?

Join us later today for an engaging panel discussion with Terri Harrington Shervonne Cherry Spark Coworking - Baltimore with ULI Baltimore

#YoungLeaders committee for a discussion on the #workplace and the #future of work!