What Benefits do Agile Workspaces Provide?

SAN FRANCISCO—More organizations are paying close attention to the employee experience, adapting for new technology and shifting workplace strategies in thoughtful and innovative ways. An agile workplace is one that successfully balances the people, places and processes of an organization.

One relatively new agile workspace provider to the scene is Knotel, which is expanding rapidly across the globe. With 1.5 million square feet across locations in New York, San Francisco, London and Berlin, Knotel is transforming the workplace with its Agile HQ Platform. Making long-term leases a thing of the past, Knotel designs, builds and operates custom spaces, so firms can focus on building for the future.

“Knotel helps companies to scale quickly and offers brand integrity in the category of full-floor space,” Allison Stoloff, Knotel head of revenue marketing, tells GlobeSt.com.

The firm recently finalized a 13,236-square-foot lease at 785 Market St. The new lease encompasses the 10th and 12th floors at the property. Representing Knotel in the transaction were Justin Bedecarre, Blake Stanley and Bryan Emmanuel of HelloOffice. Newmark’s Roman Adler represented the building ownership.

The Market Street deal follows closely on the heels of a recent announcement of five new local office space leases totaling approximately 50,000 square feet. The San Francisco portfolio now totals more than 130,000 square feet, with these six locations added in six months, although most of the growth occurring during the second quarter. GlobeSt.com learns that more are planned.

“The demand for high-quality but flexible office space is extremely strong in San Francisco,” said Kwame Spearman, head of expansion for Knotel. “Fast-growing companies here need to satisfy their immediate and short-term space requirements while not tying up valuable resources longer term if they don’t know what their needs will be a few years from now. Knotel has been here for less than a year, but we are already establishing a leadership position in our part of the office market locally. We look forward to cementing that position as we continue to grow.”

In the largest transaction of the previous leases, Knotel signed a 17,000-square-foot lease that includes floors one and two plus the mezzanine and basement levels at 321 11th St. The landlord, Birmingham, was represented by Brian McCarty of Colliers. Knotel was represented by Bedecarre and Stanley.

In addition to that transaction, Knotel inked deals for 11,579 square feet of space on the second and seventh floors at 550 Montgomery St. The landlord, Downtown Properties, was represented by Roman Adler of Newmark. Bedecarre and Stanley represented Knotel.

A lease of 8,209 square feet on the fifth and sixth floors was signed at 221 Pine St. The landlord entity, 221 Pine Street Ownership Group, was represented by Pat Hubbard of Sansome Street Advisors. Knotel was represented by a CBRE team consisting of Shap Roeder, Brooke Agresti, Reuben Torenberg and Jenny Haeg.

Another Pine Street lease was signed at 160 Pine for 8,017 square feet on the second floor. Landlord Britphil & Co. was represented by Clayton Jew of Kidder Mathews, while Knotel was represented by Bedecarre and Stanley.

Finally, 5,000 square feet was signed on the third and fourth floors at 701 Sutter. The landlord, Reed Moulds, was represented by Touchstone Commercial’s Zach Haupert, while Knotel was represented by Bedecarre and Stanley.

The new transactions come just weeks after Knotel acquired search engine 42Floors, a move that gives Knotel access to data and technology on more than 10 billion square feet of office space while accelerating its plans for a blockchain platform, Baya.io. Prior to that, Knotel acquired Ahoy!Berlin in June 2018 as it further expands its footprint into the European marketplace.

“We handle the headaches on the management end,” George Hridbar, Knotel San Francisco expansion manager, tells GlobeSt.com. “We can deliver property on demand quickly. We now have 90,000 square feet of active in-process leases in San Francisco.”

Knotel was founded in New York City in 2016 and caters to established and growing brands. Knotel currently operates more than 80 locations worldwide, with plans for expansion in existing cities and into new markets in the US and overseas. Today, more than 200 companies call Knotel home.

An agile workplace can adapt to imbalances. It provides the room and resources that occupants need or flexes when it doesn’t. Understanding the space ratio for organizations and its people is the key to managing a workplace strategy as a valuable business tool over time, according to JLL.

There are four stages of workplace utilization, says JLL. Finding the appropriate utilization strategy is based on an organization’s maturity and the building’s capabilities. Many companies start with the simplest, low-cost option and as needs, abilities and data integrity mature, will shift through the other stages.

Stage 1: Measuring or counting how many people are in each space for a week or two. This phase is time-consuming but inexpensive. And while only the baseline of monitoring, it is effective and provides a level of behavioral detail not possible through sensors.

This stage notes whether people are sitting or standing, working on a computer or talking, and what tools are being used. Even after advancing to higher levels of utilization, many companies return to this stage for the value of observational studies.

Stage 2: Monitoring is automated through technology that collects a massive amount of data. Sensors are built into light fixtures and WiFi access points to detect Internet use and movement. Badge swipe data and security footage determine how many people are in the building, and when and where. Once the activity is measured, the data can be used to understand and manage occupancy.

Stage 3: Passive manipulation is when buildings can make minor adjustments based on the data that’s gathered via utilization sensors that are integrated with an advanced building monitoring system.

Stage 4: Active manipulation, which is the most advanced smart building, allows integration across all systems. It connects HVAC, technology, mechanical systems, real estate utilization data and more to collect data and react in real time. It uses temperature, lights, occupancy and heat mapping to adjust the environment as it is monitoring.