Flexible workspaces are not just for millennial freelancers and tech startups anymore, according to a report from JLL.
The commercial real estate company recently released a report showing flexible work environments are on their way to becoming the new norm, and the number of new office openings in the Great Lakes region has more than doubled in the past five years.
The report defined flexible office space as any type of space used by tenants to “increase portfolio flexibility, reduce occupancy costs and increase collaboration.”
“Most of what we’re seeing is small entrepreneurs,” said Harrison West, JLL research analyst. “Companies that want to have an office if they’ve got four or five employees, but maybe for where they are it doesn’t make sense to sign a long-term lease.”
Coworking spaces are the most common type of flexible office spaces, featuring an open communal environment and shared lounges and amenities, but the report also included executive suits, with more private professional layouts and incubators designed to provide resources for startups and entrepreneurs.
While flexible space currently makes up less than 5 percent of the U.S. office market, West expects it to grow substantially within the next 10 years.
“That’s based on the five-year growth we’ve seen already,” he said. “In markets like Pittsburgh and Detroit, they seem to be popping up all the time. It’s lower than that for GR. There’s certainly room for growth.”
The number of new flexible office locations year over year in the Great Lakes region, as defined by JLL, steadily has risen since 2008. The firm focused on most major metropolitan areas in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
The amount of new flexible office locations more than doubled in recent years, going from six in 2012 to 13 in 2013.
The number spiked again two years later, with 23 new locations observed in 2015. Last year saw the highest number of new office openings with 33, and at least 18 new offices already have opened in 2018.