Coworking is entering a new era as large firms and small businesses alike are partnering with coworking companies to meet the growing need for office flexibility for businesses and workers. These offices are not the big, antiestablishment utopian workspaces companies like WeWork were known for in the 2010s. Instead, the coworking industry is focused on private office spaces for companies with sleeker, more mature designs.
The Wall Street Journal reported that coworking space in the U.S. today totals 158.3 million square feet across nearly 8,800 locations, accounting for more than 2% of office space, according to data firm Yardi. While this is lower than pre-pandemic levels, coworking space has grown by 51.7% in recent years from 115.6 million square feet in about 5,800 locations three years ago.
As companies solidify their in-person work schedules, coworking offices are filling the gap without the need to commit to long-term leases.
John Santora, CEO of WeWork, says the Great Recession and the global market selloff in 2015 prompted companies to rethink their office lease strategies. The pandemic cemented the shift.
When Santora took over WeWork in June 2024 after 47 years at Cushman & Wakefield, where he was COO, the company had just exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy after property management software firm Yardi bought a majority stake in the company. Since then, Santora has made WeWork profitable and cash flow neutral while investing more than $140 million in upgrading its spaces and technology.
“Why make that long-term commitment, especially today, when you’re not sure of how many people are coming back, right?” Santora told Fortune. “We’ll get you in 30, 60, 90 days, and you have the ability to walk away at certain points. So, you may do a one-year deal or a three-year deal with options to leave. You’re not locked in for 10 years.”
Santora gave the example of an international bank that was debating a traditional 10-year lease rebuilding a gutted office space or working with WeWork.
“It was going to take them 24 to 30 months to be in that space,” Santora said. “We signed the deal with them for 50,000 square feet in the center of London at the end of December. They will be in that space up and running in March of this year.”
“The transition from taxi to Uber is what’s happening from traditional office space to flexible office space right now that all your big players are starting to use it,” said Jason Anderson, president of Vast Coworking Group, which owns three flexible office space brands.
“The idea that your building is going to be comprised entirely of companies on 10-year leases or more has receded a bit,” said Jamie Hodari, CEO of coworking company Industrious and a senior executive at CBRE. “I think most landlords have come to say, ‘My building is going to be a palimpsest or an ecosystem of long-term leases and flex arrangements and spec suites.’”
Industrious offers high-end flexible workspaces for private equity firms, law firms, and Fortune 500 companies in over 85 cities globally. The company has seen major growth in regional offices of major corporations, signed new agreements in 52 locations in 2025, up from 33 in 2024, and plans to open 60 new coworking units in 2026.
“Lots of business leaders … are more obsessed with saying, ‘I need my employees to come in at least a few days a week,’” Hodari said. “Therefore they are focused on saying, ‘I need great offices in all 20 cities [where] I operate in the U.S., not just the top two.’”
“The people who work in the long tail of cities—Austin, Miami, Denver, San Diego, who historically had to work in very second-tier offices—are more and more demanding that they should have a great day at work, too,” Hodari said, adding that many people want an in-office experience on par with a company’s headquarters.
Hodari pointed to Prospect Heights in Brooklyn—outside the downtown and Midtown office hubs—as an example. It’s the fourth highest-performing location of Industrious’s 30 New York locations.
“For many people the difference between a 10- or 15-minute commute and a 45-minute commute is even greater than anyone ever thought,” he said. “It’s probably the single biggest determinant of [whether] someone … in the long run, likes their workplace or not, or whether they show up.”
For smaller companies, partnering with a coworking space is a way to provide amenities for workers, Hodari said. Industrious provides reception, building security, amenities centers, and community events for their clients, improving the employee experience.
“I think you’ll start to see the world be split into thirds when it comes to office space,” Anderson predicted. “[A] third will become completely flexible, hybrid, or work out of coworking spaces, which is what is fueling the big boom for flexible office space.”
