Why Industrious Has Sweated The Details For A Decade So Its Members Won't Have To

VIM Collaborative needed a workspace in 2015 that would allow the fledgling business consultancy to “hit the ground running,” recalls Jena Croxford, a partner with the Philadelphia-based company.

VIM found what it was looking for at 230 S. Broad St. in the city’s Avenue of the Arts district. It was one of the first coworking spaces operated by Industrious, but even in those early days, the workplace solutions provider was honing its member-first approach. 

“We signed a contract and were up and running the very next day with a professional address, a beautifully furnished office and flexible spaces for everything from small team meetings to large events,” Croxford said.

Ten years later, Croxford continues to use the South Broad Street space while Industrious is celebrating its first decade in business. 230 S. Broad is the oldest operating Industrious location out of a universe of more than 160 locations on three continents.

“Ten years of continuous operations is something that we take a lot of pride in,” said Industrious Philadelphia and Bethesda, Maryland, Assistant General Manager Colin Rooney. “Especially in a market like Philly that took a little bit longer to rebound post-Covid.”

Today, Industrious operates three locations in the Philadelphia area, with more on the horizon. One of its locations, at Two Liberty Place, could serve as a sort of barometer on the state of the office asset class. 

Industrious opened a space there on the cusp of the pandemic in early 2020. It took two full floors at 50 S. 16th St., but it chose not to utilize one of them when Covid disruption was at its peak.

More recently, with the 17th-floor Industrious space fully booked and occupancy in high-quality Philadelphia office buildings trending upward, Industrious reopened the 18th-floor space, which features three large suites, among other options. 

“This is a big vote of confidence for Industrious in Philly, for the local flex office market and for the city overall,” Rooney said.

Meanwhile, in the Avenue of the Arts, Croxford said Industrious continues to meet her business needs.

“What stands out most is their remarkable consistency,” she said. “Even as new faces join, the same level of care, professionalism and genuine congeniality is always present. It makes all the difference.”

Hospitality As A Product

That consistency is the result of Industrious working to set itself apart in the crowded coworking space by emphasizing people as much as real estate.

Because the company views hospitality as “a product we provide our members,” he said, it seeks member experience employees with backgrounds in hotels, restaurants or other hospitality venues. Such people know the importance of customer service, which Industrious supplements with training that Rooney compared to that of a Ritz-Carlton property.

“We understand our members want to have a great day at work and they want a team on-site that actually knows them,” he said. “We're an extremely hospitality-forward company. Our member experience teams want to make sure their people are taken care of, whether they are in the Industrious location daily or just visiting.”

Rooney himself started his Industrious career as a member experience manager, a role he described as “extremely rewarding,” not least because it allowed him to interact with members who might be solo entrepreneurs, Fortune 50 executives or somewhere in between, like VIM.

“Everything is thoughtfully taken care of so you can simply show up and focus on what you do best,” Croxford said. “But more than that, it's not just an office — it’s a community, and one that I genuinely look forward to walking into each day.”

‘Little Things Add Up’

Adaptability is another important company value for Industrious, Rooney said. This quality has allowed the company to weather economic changes as well as meet evolving client expectations. 

In the company’s early days, an Industrious space might consist mostly of a large open room with long tables for workers to share. That communal approach changed during the pandemic, when members sought spaces that would allow them to work privately and safely.

Today, with many companies calling for employees to return to the office, a representative Industrious space might look like a hybrid between the two approaches, offering both open floor space for collaboration and smaller, fractional spaces for meetings or quiet work. 

“Companies might have downsized away from a commercial lease and are now in coworking spaces where they have Team A coming in on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Team B coming in on Tuesday and Thursday,” Rooney said. “They want one office that can work for multiple teams and spaces that can do different things for them on different days.”

Industrious can keep pace with these changes, thanks in part to its unique approach to working with landlords. Rather than leasing space as an office tenant, it forms management agreements with building owners that allow them to partner to create the space, split the economics and run it jointly.

“That was something we pioneered, and now a lot of other spaces are doing that as well,” Rooney said. “It’s an approach that we have paired with our conservative growth plan over the years, and it has set us up for success in the long run.”

Two Liberty Place is an example of the benefits of its partnership approach, he said. It allowed the company to adjust its space at 50 S. 16th St. to match demand and grow again as the market strengthened.

“Rather than signing straight leases, we focus on creating flexible, mutually beneficial relationships with our property owners and managers,” he said.

Rooney said this approach allows Industrious to pay attention to the details of its members’ day-to-day needs, which Croxford said she greatly appreciates.

“The little things add up. Drinks and snacks are available throughout the day in our Industrious office, and coffee is ready for those early morning meetings,” she said. “If you've ever had to make a full pot before 9 a.m., you know what a gift that is.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Industrious and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.