Long Beach, California-based WE Labs just opened its second coworking space in the historic Packard Building, a Spanish Baroque-styled car showroom from the 1920s. Behind it is an empty lot, next door is an auto body shop, down the street are swanky new apartments, and a block away is the light rail. It looks like a textbook gentrification setting, but WE Labs's clients differ from what you'd expect at mainstream, big-city coworking spaces like those in the WeWork empire. They include a bookkeeper, a mental health services nonprofit, painters, and a roller derby-themed fashion designer. Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. - 6p.m. access is $175 per month—on the low side for coworking space in the L.A. area.

Read the article on fastcompany.com >

The proliferation of co-working spaces in New York — WeWork, WorkVille, NeueHouse and even Barclays Capital— are usually nondiscriminatory when it comes to the startups they welcome. Very few, if any, are tailored for a particular niche or industry.

However, one New York-based startup is offering something different. Fuigo, co-founded by a team of textile manufacturers and backed with $4 million in venture capital, opened its doors to local interior designers last week. The goal, according to co-founder Maury Riad, is to level the playing field by providing designers with all of the necessary resources that would otherwise only have been available at much larger firms.

Read the article on upstart.bizjournals.stfi.re >

When you think coworking, you probably picture a bunch of techie Millennials hacking away at a new app or website. That stereotype exists for a reason: coworking has long since been dominated by the youthful tech industry, and it feeds off of small startups that want to work in proximity with their like-minded entrepreneur peers. But as coworking has grown, it has also broadened its target audience. Right now, in the U.S., there are countless coworking spaces that are dedicated to specific industries, from beauty to art, to fashion and baking. If you’re a freelancer who spends a lot of time at the desk (whether you’re writing or coding), there are coworking spaces out there meant specifically for you.

Read the article on officingtoday.com >

WeWork’s sweeteners for new members include half-off rent for the first three months at its locations at 25 Broadway, 85 Broad St, 200 Broadway and 110 Wall St (the location that's home to Bisnow's HQ). That’s on top of recent incentives like free moves into bigger spaces and 25%-off deals for the first six months, The Real Deal reports. There’s no indication how long these deals will be in effect, but these sorts of deals tend to go along with a push to keep occupancy from slipping.

Read the article on bisnow.stfi.re >

Thankfully, Brooklyn is filled with motivated creative people who have done their best to fix this system. In the past five years, coworking spaces here have taken off. Most are small, personality-filled places whose aim is to support the tailored needs of creative professional (architects, writers, designers, filmmakers, social entrepreneurs) and, in order to do that, one word among their owners kept cropping up: Comfort. People work better when they feel better, they all say. They’re not simply talking about standing desk- or ergonomic-chair comfort, they’re talking living room comforts, with couches and rugs and additional creature comforts like full kitchens that come with bottomless coffee, tea, and shared snacks. These places also offer flexibility—many are open 24 hours a day—and with both private and open pockets (phone booths on one hand, and big open spaces on the other), cross-creative collaborations emerge naturally. And, let’s not forget Vitamin D! Lots of these coworking centers have peaceful outdoor refuges attached, like roof gardens and patios out back, so you may remember you are a person on Earth, not a soul-less office drone.

Read the article on bkmag.stfi.re >

As the shared economy continues to evolve companies – both big and small – are managing their expense lines and testing new urban markets with co-working spaces.

In the past, many co-working companies were targeted toward freelancers and startups. According to the CBRE Group's 2015/2016 Americas Occupier Survey of 226 Americas-based corporate real estate organizations, more than 40 percent of respondents are using or considering shared workplaces.

Read the article on money.usnews.com >

Coworking spaces, incubators and accelerators continue to sprout up in record numbers across the U.S., shifting the conversation about where and how work happens. And while entrepreneurs flock in droves, they’re increasingly motivated by much more than gorgeous facilities packed with perks like free coffee and organic snacks. They’re desperate to learn from others in their industry and are looking for game-changing connections—so they’re shacking up with the competition to get the help they need.

Read the blog on myturnstone.com >