Boca Raton residents aren’t really working with their coworkers, per se.
The city was ranked as the suburb with the sixth-highest number of co-working spaces in the nation, according to a study published by CoworkingCafe. The study defined a suburb as any city except the largest one in a particular metro area.
The renters run the gamut: shoestring startup owners, crypto traders, car-part suppliers, an Invisalign competitor, and real estate agents, to name a few.
And it looks like the odd officemates are there to stay. Even though coworking spaces were conceived of as temporary solutions, many are staying for years because of the national shift towards hybrid workplaces. Others are using them as launching pads for their startups before they can upgrade to a long-term office lease.
Maximillian Ramirez, a manager at The One Cowork, said that turnover is remarkably low for a venture based around the idea of allowing people to pick up leave without multi-year leases.
“I’ve had clients out here that have been with us since opening day,” Ramirez said. It took some time create an initial client base, “but I’ll say most of these clients that we’ve had here since then have stuck around with us,” he said.
Demand for some Boca co-working spaces has been consistent since they opened their doors. The One hit 92% occupancy about four months after it started promoting its space, Ramirez said. An annex that nearly doubled their square footage in June last year is already at about 80% capacity. Brooke Howard, a coordinator at CoSuite, said her company’s Boca location is at capacity and has created a waitlist for new customers. She expects demand to only go up in coming years.
Howard attributed the popularity of co-working in Boca to its reputation as a startup incubator. Smaller companies on shoestring budgets might not want to sink money into a multi-year office lease, especially if there’s questions about whether the business will work out in the long-term. CoSuite decided to offer options that cater to those smaller companies and one-person startups that don’t need a whole office space.
To some extent, co-working spaces are also riding the coattails of the COVID economy. The shift towards remote and hybrid work models gave co-working spaces a boost. Some companies have eschewed traditional leases altogether and now rent co-working offices and desks for employees, Howard said.
Plus, with a shift to remote work, many people are just lonely. Many are opting for a work environment where they know they’ll see other faces, even if they aren’t their actual colleagues.
“A lot of people, they’re getting sick of being in their homes, and they want a sense of community,” Howard said.
Even though life has largely returned to normal three years into the pandemic, the owners of the co-working spaces are optimistic that the boon to their business model is permanent. Both CoSuite and The One have plans to expand their operations in the near future.
