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Flexible workspace is the hottest thing in real estate right now, and brokerage Savills wants to make sure it gets, and keeps, a seat at the table.
The company announced Wednesday it is bringing its flexible workspace consultancy, Workthere, to the U.S., starting with New York City, Bisnow can first report.
First launched in London in 2017, Workthere is both an online listing platform and advisory service that focuses exclusively on the flexible workspace market. It lists flexible workspace locations on its website, and allows users to search for space in certain areas. Once businesses or individuals have some options, they connect with dedicated Workthere brokers who will negotiate on their behalf.
Now that it is in New York, Savills is planning to expand Workthere across the United States this year, with the West Coast as its first target.
“Our clients are finding it difficult to navigate the expanding and confusing flexible workspace market out there,” Workthere Americas Head Dom Harding told Bisnow. “There is a lot of confusion about what you are getting for your money, what discounts there are and what’s included.”
The service has 3,000 listings across nine countries, including Singapore, Germany, France, Ireland and The Netherlands. Big-name operators like WeWork, Knotel and Servcorp are all listing space on the site in New York City, along with smaller operators.
The attraction for the providers, Harding said, is that the platform filters out tenants that aren’t serious about taking space. It is free to list space on the site, and the provider still pays the commission when deals close.
“They like we can qualify the tenants that we take to them, and that we understand the business,” he said. “We understand what terms we can push on and what we can’t push so hard on and get the deals done … [It means] better tenants, longer deals and stickier deals.”
Coworking drove the office leasing market in Manhattan last year, as part of a global trend toward more flexible arrangements.
WeWork is now the city’s biggest private tenant, for example, and 3-year-old Knotel has more than 2.5M SF around the world.
The shift has meant many traditional landlords are working to reshape their approach to make sure they don’t get left behind — although others, like Empire State Realty Trust, are avoiding coworking altogether.
Some landlords are moving to management deals with operators as opposed to traditional leases, while some, like Tishman Speyer, are creating their own coworking arm. Brokerage CBRE also wants to make sure it is not disrupted, launching its own coworking provider, Hana, last year.
CORRECTION, FEB. 14, 10 A.M. ET: A previous version of this story misstated who arranges the leases from the Workthere platform. It is a dedicated team of Workthere brokers. This story has been updated.
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