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Page 16 — Office Properties Quarterly — December 2016
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I n just a few short years, the co-
working community in Denver
has developed into one of the
nation’s most robust. There are
co-working spaces seemingly
around every corner with more pop-
ping up every day. When Thrive first
opened its doors in 2010, the concept
of co-working was rather different
than the one seen today.
While the concept of co-working
remains communal at its core, co-
working has developed to meet
the growing needs of Colorado’s
co-workers. At first, traditional co-
working centered on people; today,
co-working centers on community.
Increasingly, the city’s co-working
ecosystem is concerned about loca-
tion, flexibility and community
when selecting a shared workspace
environment.
• Location. Location is crucial. We
have witnessed that a co-working
space’s location has a sizable impact
on the health of the community and
affects where people actually want
to get their work accomplished. A
shared workspace’s location needs
to be accessible to where commu-
nity members live, needs to have
the right vibe and needs to supply
access to eateries, bars and enter-
tainment options.
While working from home can
have its benefits – specifically, free-
dom and privacy – missing out on
some of the most crucial psycho-
logical aspects of productivity poses
a significant disadvantage. There
are far more perks being offered by
shared workspaces today than ever
before. Cultivating a warm, motivat-
ing and productive atmosphere is
crucial in meeting the needs of the
modern co-working
community. A
co-working space
with easy access
to parking, public
transportation and
nearby restaurants,
bars and other
cultural offerings
provides members
with additional
flexibility. Access
and location play
a sizable role in
meeting the grow-
ing needs of the developing co-work-
ing community in Denver.
• Flexibility. Flexibility is a neces-
sity for co-working spaces. Every
co-working space has a different
atmosphere, and the concept of co-
working remains relatively unknown
to a large percentage of the popula-
tion. Often, people don’t know what
they want in a co-working space,
so we offer the flexibility for them
to grow through memberships or
physical space. We have seen people
take months switching from pack-
age to package before they know
what option works best for them.
And then once they’re feeling com-
fortable, something happens – an
employee moves on, they’re forced
to hire additional employees, sales
don’t go as well as planned or their
company is acquired – and they are
right back at square one, trying to
figure out what works best again.
Offering flexible membership
options and not being afraid to alter
packages based on the needs of
members benefits everyone in the
co-working community. For example,
walls and spaces can be designed
to be modular for reconfiguration,
expansion and contraction. We
have a coffee shop area that can be
changed into offices over the week-
end and vice versa.
A co-working space should offer
customizable packages that meet the
needs of each business and supply
a “work where you want” mentality.
Even if members have private office
space, ensure that they love to use the
mobile workspace as well as offering a
variety of conference room sizes and
configurations. The ability to adapt
to members’ needs is crucial in the
development of a co-working commu-
nity.Whatever a co-working space can
do to be flexible for its members will
be beneficial in fostering a friendly,
familial community.
• Community. Community is one
of the most important values of co-
working and it remains one of the
hardest things to cultivate, because
there are so many attributes that
can impact the entire community.
The location, feel of the space, other
members, membership services and
networking opportunities are all
examples of the elements that make
up the unique communities at each
co-working space. We feel that you
have to adapt to the surrounding
neighborhood and members to culti-
vate a successfully community. Com-
munity is perhaps the most misun-
derstood value, as many co-working
spaces have differing views on what
Chad Johnson
Co-founder, Thrive
Workplace, Denver
Owner Insights
Thrive Workplace
Flexibility is key for successful co-working spaces. Offering flexible membership options
and not being afraid to alter packages based on member needs benefits everyone in the
co-working community.