I have heard about the success of various co-working platforms in the United States. We recently completed a co-working deal for space here in China – we are a Chinese development company – and want to explore how the co-working market is set to perform over the next 5-10 years.
Answers
The co-working boom shows little signs of abating. We are currently working with a growing number of office, multifamily and mixed-use developers that are considering integrating these formats into their product offerings.
I do considerable legal work in the US for WeWork. They are by far the market leader and got a tremendous jump on others in developing this product and have created a real brand. My guess is that it will be hard for others to catch up and really challenge them unless others can develop some great innovation that WeWork cannot compete with. I think this area is really growing but like most things, I would be concerned that WeWork and their many would be competitors may overshoot the demand and expand too quickly, only to have to retreat and restructure. This is a new business approach so hard to evaluate how big the market for it can really get, especially if office landlords and tenants develop WeWork look, feel and amenities in their own buildings and spaces themselves, which is something some landlords are staring to do. I hope this is helpful.