Real Estate News
Premier Workspaces Capitalizes on Industry Distress, Plans to Add 100 Coworking Locations
The pandemic has shaken up the coworking industry with struggling and bankrupt operators dominating the headlines. Many operators closed their doors, leaving office building owners with vacant space. Premier Workspaces has positioned itself to offer such office building owners solutions. With the backing of its multi-billion dollar real estate holding company, the Bascom Group, Premier is moving forward with plans of taking over these distressed locations and adding 100 locations in the next few years.
Started with the bankruptcy sale acquisition of American Office Centers, nearly 20 years ago and has since operated a total of 132 locations and more than 2M sqft of space. Premier has never had an unprofitable year, nor defaulted on a lease, making it a trusted option for landlords.
Premier signed its 1st management contract to operate a coworking space nearly 20 years ago and has continued to grow the this portion of its portfolio. In 2020, Premier added 5 new managed offices, including a coworking space within a luxury apartment community - the latest amenity trend in rental housing.
Jeff Reinstein, Premier's CEO, thinks the industry is ripe for consolidation. "Over the past nearly 20 years, Premier Workspaces has taken over and repositioned 74 distressed or bankrupt locations. There is no company in our industry that has the track record or depth of experience as Premier in taking over and repositioning failed shared workspaces."
"We are getting calls daily," stated Michael Pollack, VP, Dir. of Real Estate at Premier. "Landlords are inquiring about possible partnerships to take-over spaces where operators are not paying rent or simply notified them they're leaving."
The win-win nature of such transactions is one of the many management deals done by Premier with the large, office building owner the Irvine Company. When another operator defaulted, Premier assumed management of over 200k sqft of space across 6 properties in Southern California and was able to retain nearly all of the clients, reduce expenses, and increase revenue through more diverse products. Premier converted all 6 to master leases prior to the 1 year mark.
Premier expects to take-over, partner with, or start up locations nationwide totaling another estimated 2M sqft of space. "Bascom is committed to supporting Premier Workspaces' upcoming growth," said Jerry Fink, Managing Partner at Bascom. David Kim, Managing Partner at Bascom added "Our turnaround experience is a natural fit with the distress in the industry."
Premier is designed with an almost exclusive focus on private offices, which has become highly desired in this Covid-19 environment. The implementation of covid protocols allowed the company to attract a new client base while competitors repositioned and divided large team rooms and shared coworking areas. Premier has seen a consistent increase in activity in recent months.
For more information, please visit: https://www.premierworkspaces.com/landlords
