Co-working spaces grow as more are tailored to fit

Some cater to women or specific industries

Karen Burton’s longtime dream of a home for building industry entrepreneurs in Detroit came to fruition in June.

Bolstered by a $55,000 city development grant, Burton and husband Bobby opened SpaceLab Detroit, a 5,200-square-foot co-working space in the heart of downtown just as the real estate market there gathers steam. In October, the area cracked Realtor.com’s Top 10 hottest U.S. markets, coming in eighth.

“I did freelance architectural design for quite some time. I worked from home, worked from my clients’ offices,” said Burton, 52. “I just wanted the amenities available in an architecture office and to be able to share resources.”

SpaceLab now has 30 members working in construction, interior design, architecture, real estate law, property management and even furniture supply. It’s filled with tailored features such as a large-scale printing plotter and a specialized materials library. Members are steps from city offices that oversee building applications and permits, and some are teaming up to bid on new contracts.

As well-known co-working companies such as WeWork offer space to businesses in many industries, a growing number of niche or specialty players such as The Wing and Hera Hub, which cater to women, are growing in popularity. There are spaces centered on specific industries such as Biolabs, which offers co-working to biotechnology firms, or Boston’s Workbar, which has a regional focus.

“Co-working has finally become mainstream. Everybody thinks it was an overnight success. But it was 10 years in the making. You now need to differentiate,” said Liz Elam, founder of the Global Coworking Unconference Conference.

The number of U.S. workers who use co-working may double to 1.08 million in 2022 from last year, according to a forecast from Emergent Research and GCUC. Last year, there were an estimated 4,043 co-working spaces, up from just 14 a decade earlier, the study found.

Co-working tenants pay by the hour, day or month rather than sign years-long leases. They get amenities such as conference room space, coffee and camaraderie.

That can bring in more money for operators. Annual profit per square foot for a co-working space is an average $11.08, while space in offices run by a management company brings in $8.86, according to a 2017 survey from the Global Workspace Association.

Connecting with people in similar or complementary industries is a benefit of working in a co-working space. That was one of the reasons Kristi Sherfinski, 45, was attracted to the newly opened Oasis Coworking Community, which houses water-related start-ups inside Milwaukee’s 98,000square-foot Global Water Center.

“I was really attracted to the idea of collaboration,” she said.