NEW YORK - Some of New York City's most established commercial real estate companies are offering co-working spaces for rent while benefiting from WeWork’s troubles.

Sources tell NY1 that phone calls and tours from perspective tenants have increased dramatically in the last several weeks and that growth comes from WeWork’s (Now WeCo.) clients looking to “jump ship.”

Tishman Speyer opened its co-working space in Rockefeller Center, called Studio, on October 25, 2018.
 
You can rent an office or just a desk for as little as $400 a month. A diverse group of companies also share common space, community events and amenities.

In the last year the head of Studio, Thais Galli, says Tishman Speyer has opened up a total of 9 Studio locations in several cities.

"This is not just a trend it’s not just for start ups, it’s a shift in real estate," said Galli.

Silverstein Properties says it adapted to the changing marketplace in 2013, opening up Silver Suites Offices in 7 World Trade Center and 4 World Trade Center. The company offers desk rentals starting at $500 per month and private offices run from four to 40 times that amount.

There’s shared space and high end amenities as well. Silverstein Properties President Tal Kerret says he listened to some of his tenants who wanted to focus on their businesses and not get bogged down running an office.

“They don’t want to spend all the money for everything on themselves until they grow into a certain size,” he said.

Kerret says it provides companies the flexibility for their office space to grow and shrink with them, without being locked into long term leases.

“Now we want to do it in every one of our buildings maybe two or three floors per building,” Kerret explained.

Silverstein Properties owns ten large buildings in the city and it has been a driving force behind the redevelopment of the World Trade Center, which it purchased six weeks before the terror attacks on 9/11.

Tishman Speyer owns Rockefeller Center and the established commercial Real Estate Firm boasts $88 billion in assets.

“By the next summer we should be somewhere between 13, 15 locations,” said Galli.

The ventures of these commercial real estate companies and WeWork is very different. These companies own the space and rent it out, while WeWork primarily would enter into long term rental agreements with property owners like Tishman Speyer and essentially operate as a manager of the space, getting tenants and providing the services and community needed. 
 
The Durst Organization is also venturing into the shared space marketplace. It's been planning its entry for about six months and only got in this month. It has five locations it owns that it is renting out fully built out, furnished and wired offices. It does not rent out desks though.

Brookfield Properties tells NY1 they have been “looking a lot at this,” but is not ready to say exactly what its strategy will be going forward.