Co-working spaces rebranding with high-end amenities, including suites

Once the domain of barefooted techies and former frat bros working the phones between beers, the next-gen of co-working spaces are slapping on a suite and tie and rebranding.“Our spaces are elegant and sophisticated,” said Thiago Viana, head of communications at WeWork.“There’s no more beer on tap.”Sobering up means structural changes, too.

WeWork says that open floor plans where workers are crammed against strangers in long rows of desks are going the way of the rolodex. “If you walk into any WeWork in New York City now, there are private offices, there are conference rooms and private floors,” Viana said.“[We] are getting new spaces that are high level, state-of-the-art, but keep the WeWork spirit.”Demand from bosses and workers for “ready-to-go offices,” swing space and short-term workplaces is strong, according to broker Adam Henick of Current Real Estate Advisors, thanks in part to new artificial intelligence and finance companies that are uncertain of their future growth.At the same time, co-working space for teams of 30 or 75 people is scarce in the city.That’s the niche in the market that WeWork is now trying to fill, says Henick.A new WeWork recently opened at 250 Broadway near City Hall with another coming to 245 Fifth Ave.

in the Flatiron District.An even more upscale version of WeWork is coming to floors 9 to 11, and 15, at 511 Fifth Ave.at East 43rd St.

WeWork will also manage that building’s amenities. But WeWork isn’t alone in it’s attempt to upscale co-working. There are currently 132 co-working spots in the metro area offering at least three high-end amenities, an analysis by Yardi, a real estate data and analytics firm, found.“People would walk in and say, ‘This is nice, but do you have something more upscale?’” said Adam Stark, CEO of Stark Office Suites.His company operates co-working locations on high floors at One Grand Central Pl.

and 110 E.59th St.But the one on the 23rd floor of the Durst Organiz...