Industrious, the flexible workspace provider bought by real estate giant CBRE last year, is poised to create one of the world’s single largest coworking locations at its Manhattan headquarters building.
The New York-based firm said it expanded its footprint at 12 E. 49th St., known as Tower 49, to 291,600 square feet across 18 floors from 240,000 square feet across 16 floors. It also has a larger operational role at the property.
Industrious’ growth comes after it took over rival WeWork’s former headquarters space in the building. WeWork rejected that lease as part of its move to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2024.
The space at Tower 49 ranks globally as one of the largest single flexible office locations, comparable in size to the WeWork location in Two Southbank Place in London that’s 293,000 square feet, according to CoStar data.
Industrious CEO Jamie Hodari, who co-founded Industrious in 2012, previously told CoStar News its locations in the United States and United Kingdom typically range from 30,000 to 50,000 square feet.
The lease expansion is structured as a management agreement that involves Industrious sharing revenue or profit with landlord Kato International. Industrious, in turn, can avoid taking on leasing risk. Hodari has said that most of the firm’s locations operate under this model, and that the company turned profitable at the end of 2023.
Industrious is now overseeing tenants’ experience of the entire 600,000-plus-square-foot tower as Kato plans to add two new amenity floors featuring a conference center and social lounge. Industrious in an email to CoStar described its new role as looking after “aspects that impact a working person’s day: community and event programming, food and beverage, booking spaces, branding, etc.”
Demand for flexible office space has benefited from companies seeking move-in-ready offerings with collaborative workspace as they navigate hybrid work patterns emerging from the pandemic. About 55% of global occupiers now utilize flexible office solutions, with 17% planning to increase their use, according to a Cushman & Wakefield study.
Industrious plans to double its signings in New York this year after increasing its footprint by 58% in 2025 to over 30 new locations, a company spokeswoman said. Industrious now operates more than 250 locations across 85-plus cities globally. WeWork, for its part, is back in growth mode in New York.