The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Coworking center closes, despite growth of shared workspaces
GREENWICH — The second floor of a brick office building on the western edge of central Greenwich attests to the pitfalls and potential of coworking ventures.
Work Well Win, which was founded by WeWork alumnus Frank Bistrian, closed earlier this month at 330 Railroad Ave., after losing its lease because of several hundred thousand dollars in unpaid rent. The property owners, however, are not abandoning shared workspaces, and coworking continues to gain traction throughout the area.
“I don’t think the Work Well Win case is an indictment of coworking itself,” said David Noble, director of the Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Connecticut and whose own startup uses coworking space in New Haven.
“The future of the workplace is still developing. The business model is not there yet, but it still has a lot of potential.”
Several messages left for Work Well Win were not returned. A message left for Bistrian through LinkedIn was also not returned.
High hopes
About two years ago, Bistrian signed a 10year lease for the 12,400squarefoot second level at 330 Railroad, according to Jeffrey B. Mendell, the property’s coowner.
Bistrian launched Work Well Win after realestatefocused positions at Goldman Properties and JPMorganChase and a stint at WeWork, where he said he helped open dozens of locations.
His growth strategy paralleled the ambitious expansion plans of his former employer. In an April 2018 interview, he said WWW intended to open nearly 100 locations in the next five years.
“(WeWork) showed me the need for people to feel like they’re part of a greater community at the office,” Bistrian said in the interview. “It’s incredible what they’ve done. But there’s an underserved market for corporate America, which wants something more adult and grownup.”
The company’s name was reflected in amenities such as fruitinfused water, purified air, a yoga studio and meditation room.
By July 2018, the WWW hub at 330 Railroad was fully open. It attracted 16 subtenants, including a number of financialservices firms and businesses that provided supporting services, according to Mendell.
“The offices leased very quickly and had good numbers,” he said. “They were doing well for a while. Their problem was not
Greenwich.”
Plans run aground
But while WWW had generated activity in Greenwich, its finances were foundering.
In early October, Bistrian filed for bankruptcy in federal court in New York. At that point, WWW Greenwich Railroad LLC, the entity that technically operated the WWW space at 330 Railroad, owed about $381,000 in rent, according to the bankruptcy petition.
Two months later, WWW still was not paying for its lease, according to court documents. The judge overseeing the case ordered the firm by Dec. 13 to pay about $282,000 in rent covering October, November and December or have its lease terminated.
The firm could not meet the deadline. On Dec. 13, it surrendered its lease and vacated the premises, according to Mendell.
“This company defaulted on their lease and were behind hundreds of thousands of dollars in their obligations to us,” he said. “They couldn’t pay their bills, so the relationship deteriorated because they didn’t live up to their lease obligations.”
The WWW signs still hang outside 330 Railroad, but they are set to soon come down.
Now, WWW’s future is uncertain.
Its website lists a location in Austin, Texas, and planned openings in Santa Monica, Calif.; Tustin, Calif.; and another site in Austin. It also says it intends to open a 30,000squarefoot center in downtown Stamford, at 421 Atlantic St.
Messages left for the developers of 421 Atlantic were not returned. Once the home of a U.S. post office, that property is now part of the Atlantic Station complex, which includes one apartment tower and another that is under construction.
WWW’s decline evoked, on a smaller scale, some of the travails of Bistrian’s former employer. In late September, WeWork postponed its initial public offering amid growing investor concerns about its valuation, major losses and corporate governance.
“By trying to go national so quickly, you’re just increasing the costs before you probably have the financing,” Noble said of WWW’s growth plan. “To be a fully national company, you need to have a certain amount of density for your branding to take effect.”
Growth elsewhere
Despite WWW’s exit, Mendell and 330 Railroad coowner Rich Granoff said they are not giving up on coworking at the property, which is listed on the state’s Register of Historic Places and has undergone significant renovations since they bought it in 2016 from Eversource Energy.
They said they plan to sign a number of the WWW subtenants to new leases. They intend to directly manage a portion of the second level as a shared workspace and lease more traditional offices in adjoining annexes.
In the current setup, the coworking hub contains long worktables, contemporary upholstered sets in a living roomlike section, a kitchen, as well as futuristic glassdoor pods for phone calls and quiet work.
“We’re going to try this arrangement for the time being,” Mendell said. “Some (of the WWW subtenants) will definitely stay.”
The offices of Granoff ’s architectural firm, Granoff Architects, cover the building’s first floor.
Nationwide, flexible space comprises less than 5 percent of office inventory — but that rate is expected to rise to 30 percent by 2030, according to commercial real estate firm JLL.
Among recent additions in the area, Hayvn opened at 320 Boston Post Road in Darien in May as the selfdescribed first shared workspace in Fairfield County to focus on women professionals.
Noble’s startup, Gunclear , is taking space at the Drive hub in New Haven.
“We’re using coworking in New Haven, partially because our employees need a place to go,” Noble said. “And we’re able do that for a share fraction of the cost” of traditional office space.
Stamford, meanwhile, remains the top destination for coworking in Fairfield County.
Office Evolution opened last year at 750 E. Main St., while Serendipity Labs debuted in 2016 at 700 Canal St. Serendipity’s upcoming openings include locations in Westport and Hartford.
“In Connecticut and globally, we continue to see accelerating demand from companies that want flexible alternatives to conventional longterm real estate commitments,” Serendipity Labs CEO and Chairman John Arenas said. “Coworking operators that offer a trusted brand and a broad network of locations are wellpositioned to grow profitably.”
Coworking openings in earlier years in Stamford have included Comradity at 845 Canal St., and Workpoint at 290 Harbor Drive.
Workpoint recorded in 2019 its highest usage levels in its fouryear history, with occupancy running at 100 percent for its private offices and 90 percent for its assigned workstations, according to General Manager Sheelah Quinn.
In addition, its TV studio is booked on a daily basis for live shots with cable news channels such as CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox and Bloomberg.
“We have a different business model than WeWork, and having only one location makes Workpoint unique to Stamford,” Quinn said. “After four years, we have a good understanding of the Fairfield County market and what our tenants are looking for in a coworking space.”