Flexible Office Space Finds New Life in Corporate Real Estate Portfolios

The co-working market is finally shedding its pandemic hangover and entering a new chapter defined less by entrepreneurs in hoodies and more by corporate occupiers recalibrating how, where, and why they put people to work. After years when shared office space was treated as a niche or fad, the latest wave of flexible work environments is being driven by some of the largest companies on the planet. Pfizer, Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Lyft, and Anthropic are among the firms now leasing co-working facilities for teams and satellite offices, a dramatic shift from the early co-working era when startups and small businesses were the primary users.

This shift is visible in the numbers. Across the United States, there are now roughly 8,800 co-working locations totaling 158.3 million square feet, up from about 5,800 locations and 115.6 million square...