Creative Space Trailblazer
Long before today's proliferation of co-working spaces, way back in 1997, Debra Larsen--today a principal at Transwestern--had an idea.
Dot com friends wanted help finding space but couldn't afford full-service offices. She suggested old-fashioned executive suites, but those spaces didn't fit their culture. So she created her own business, TechSpace, outfitting a facility at 41 E 11th near Union Square. It was a hit and soon she launched more locations in Boston, San Francisco, and Toronto. In 2002, she sold her firm to a California-based company and started a family.
Now her kids are 11 and 9, and with demand for shared creative office spiking, she's back in the game. Last summer, she founded WorkHouse and in September started building out 30k SF in an 85-year old former jewelry manufacturer's building at 21 W 46th. It's an amazing place, and we ought to know Bisnow Media was lucky enough to snag some of its space.
Debra came to New York 25 years ago on a modeling contract for Elite. She had grown up in LA, Minneapolis, and Seattle, in a competitive household: Her dad was a defensive tackle for the Vikings. Her first real estate job was as a tenant rep helping Saatchi & Saatchi sublease space at an office it'd helped develop at 375 Hudson. She's been at Transwestern since early 2012, repping tech and new media companies as well as luxury retail brands. But she remains passionate about re-imagining old spaces.
A year and a half ago, on the side, she helped the owners of 530 Seventh Ave create SPACE 530, a unique co-working space for the fashion industry, luring tenants like Cynthia Steffe, Max Mara, and Zappos into what she describes as a very sleek "Chanel-esque cross between high-end art gallery and you r coolest friend's apartment," with polished concrete floors and huge glass windows.
At WorkHouse, she goes for a different vibe: Taking cues from SoHo House and the Ace Hotel lobby, the space is not loud or over-lit, but warm and inviting, appealing to firms that want collaborative space both private and vibrant. She's designed much of it herself, engaging the Brooklyn Navy Yard to do steel sash iron work for the divided light windows that enclose conference rooms, putting pavers and railings on the rooftop, wood paneling everywhere to warm up the space, exposed high-end duct work, subway tile back pantries, glass front offices, and her signature amenity, bright red refrigerators.
She's also installed fiber, wifi, and cable; and added a terrace off floor 12, a sky lobby on the 16th with service center admin staff, and a roof deck with spectacular views. Tenants are flocking: Earlier this month, an SEO firm of 30 employees moved in, joining others that do social media, not-for-profit, software, and Internet business, plus whatever product you call it that Bisnow Media produces. And she has an option on another 30k SF that's also likely to go fast.
Showing the building in full swing, here's WorkHouse general partner Gregg Lorberbaum (left, with Tim Knox) last week on the 12th floor at a launch party for his new book, Leasing New York. The founder of Staubach's NY office and more recently of Centric Real Estate Advisors (home also of a third WorkHouse partner, Eric Derfner), Gregg says he wrote it for the one-off office tenant who knows little about the leasing process (price PSF, all-in costs, comparing transactions, the changing workplace) but should, since office space is likely its largest fixed expense.
