The Harwood District near Uptown Dallas leaped into the competitive coworking segment this month, adding space to a crowded flexible office market in Dallas' core.

Harwood International announced the launch of coworking options inside its Harwood District luxury office buildings complete with dedicated desks, private offices and furnished suites for tenants who are looking for added lease flexibility.

Harwood is moving into a competitive sphere. The Uptown/Turtle Creek market has 288K SF of coworking space, according to CoStar Group data. Nearby Downtown Dallas has 452K SF of coworking facilities in the market, according to CoStar DFW Director of Market Analytics Paul Hendershot.

Two of the largest coworking sites near Harwood District are the 66K SF Spaces site at 1919 McKinney Ave. and the 52K SF WeWork site at 3090 Nowitzki Way in Victory Park Plaza.

Harwood International says coworking offers it the potential to lure long-term tenants into the district, so they can experience the area's amenities while working in temporary office solutions.

“We are seeing increased demand for ready-for-occupancy solutions with the flexibility to grow into a long-term solution,” Harwood International Director of Leasing Kelly Whaley said. “This led us to launch our own coworking solutions and move-in ready office suites.”

Harwood International is taking a big risk moving into coworking and flexible office solutions, but there is a definite long-term real estate play behind their decision to do so, according to Hendershot.

"While the coworking space has felt some pain this year similar to the rest of the office market, we may see companies look to coworking space to provide short-term solutions as they are navigating the return to the office," Hendershot said. "For companies looking to move here from out of state, coworking or flex space may prove to be a viable option."

Harwood also announced the signing of three new office tenants: Baranof Holdings, a developer that signed a nearly 4K SF lease inside Harwood No. 10; industrial real estate fund provider Berkeley Partners, which leased nearly 5K SF in Harwood No. 6; and cloud-based call recording and voice AI firm Dubber, which leased more than 3K SF inside Harwood. No. 4.

Stream Realty's James Mantzuranis represented Baranof Holdings, while Fults Commercial's Tracy Fults and Ryane Bryan represented tenant Berkeley Partners.

Site Selection Group's Steven Schneider and Luke Harp represented Dubber during lease negotiations.

"From these recent new leases and other inquiries we have received, we saw a need in the market for more flexible office options," Hannah Waidmann, commercial leasing manager of Harwood International, said in a press release. “Our new offerings enable prospective tenants to find the right office space to fit their needs today, tomorrow, and years from now.”