Workbar Expanding to Needham

Not all is down and out in Boston’s coworking sector.

Boston-based Workbar is planning to open a 17K SF coworking space at 117 Kendrick St., a Bulfinch office building in Needham’s N-Squared Innovation District. The Needham location will be Workbar’s 10th Greater Boston location and is aimed at professionals commuting from the city’s southern and western suburbs. 

“Our newest location in Needham will further enforce our mission of supporting innovators in Greater Boston,” Workbar CEO Sarah Travers said in a statement. 

Cushman & Wakefield Managing Director Rob Byrne represented Workbar in the lease. 

The Workbar deal fully leases 117 Kendrick St., which also counts Verastem Oncology, Candel Therapeutics and Warner Brothers as tenants.

“Bulfinch is pleased to have Workbar join the list of notable tenants at 117 Kendrick St.,” Bulfinch CEO Eric Schlager said in a statement. “The property’s recent repositioning with improved amenities and common areas will further enhance Workbar’s coworking environment.” 

Workbar’s expansion is a bright spot in Boston’s coworking sector, which was dominated last year by WeWork's leasing appetite, then by its failed IPO. The New York-based coworking giant, which was on track to become Boston’s largest office tenant, has since stalled its local expansion. But Workbar has continued to grow. 

Competing coworking providers like WeWork, Knotel and IWG primarily operate coworking spaces in urban centers, but Workbar runs a hub-and-spoke model with several offices in downtown Boston, but also in the suburbs like Burlington, Norwood and Salem.

Workbar expanded to San Francisco this month, and Travers told Bisnow in October landlords were increasingly approaching the company to operate coworking space in light of WeWork’s uncertain future.