Burgeoning interest and investment in flexible workspaces is pushing a small corner of the commercial real estate market into the corporate mainstream, and drawing one top executive from Asia to help expand his company's U.S. operations.
Media reports say Japan's SoftBank, with expertise in information technology and telecommunications, is close to investing more than $3 billion in the U.S. office-sharing upstart WeWork. This would mark a major vote of confidence in the business and the sector overall.
Servcorp, an Australia-based rival to WeWork, believes the market is ripe for expansion and is sending its chief operating officer to New York with a goal of doubling U.S. operations, 22 locations, in about five years.