DFW Office Demand Bolsters Co-Working Presence in the Burbs

While the co-working movement took root in the urban core of downtown, its role in DFW’s office market is being cemented in the suburbs because of the vast geography of the metro.

The new WorkSuites will occupy 19,706 square feet on the second floor of Allen Center.

ALLEN, TX—Dallas-based WorkSuites is opening its first location in this active office market. It is the co-working operation’s 20th location.

“Obviously the metroplex has been expanding to the north for a long time, and we get so many requests for office space north of Plano. We are very excited to finally have a location to serve the Allen/McKinney market,” says WorkSuites CEO and founder Flip Howard.

The new location will occupy 19,706 square feet on the second floor of the 470,000-square-foot class-A Allen Center at 450 Century Pkwy. The new location has access to Central Expressway, a five-per-1,000 parking ratio, an indoor-outdoor cafe and a fitness center.

“Because of the immense demand for office space in Dallas-Fort Worth, we’ve seen a subsequent increase in demand for co-working, especially in the suburbs because DFW is so spread out,” Tosha Bontrager, WorkSuites’ senior director of brand and products tells GlobeSt.com. “While the co-working movement took root in the urban core of downtown, its role in our office market is being cemented in the suburbs.”

John Pelletier, Austin Studebaker and Greg Burns of ESRP Advisory Dallas handled lease negotiations for WorkSuites. Susan Singer, Jarred Laake and Richmond Collinsworth of Bradford Commercial Real Estate Services represented the landlord.

“Located less than one mile from Watters Creek and the Allen Convention Center complex, this location will offer WorkSuites members the opportunity to enjoy the best of Allen’s numerous amenities in addition to those offered in the center itself. WorkSuites is yet again setting the bar for location and value,” says Pelletier.

The Allen location is under construction now and slated to open in March 2020. The new space features WorkSuites’ signature mix of service, privacy and professionalism.

In the second quarter of 2019, the overall average asking rent stood at $24.41 per square foot in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, reflecting annual and quarterly increases of 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively, according to a report by Savills. Rents ranged from a low of $14.28 per square foot in the East Dallas submarket to $34.69 per square foot in Uptown. Market-wide class-A rents followed a similar trend, increasing 1.4% both year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter to $26.76 per square foot. During the trailing four quarters, class-A rent spikes were evident in West LBJ, Stemmons and LBJ submarkets. Southwest Dallas and North Fort Worth had the greatest year-over-year class-A rent declines of 14.8% and 8% respectively, says the Savills report.