Another Major Landlord Is Launching Its Own Flexible Office Arm

One of New York City’s best-known landlords, the Durst Organization, is inserting itself into the flexible office leasing world with its brand-new offering, "Durst Ready."

The leasing arm is due to launch next week and will offer spaces between 2,500 and 25K SF, The Real Deal reports. Asking rents for the locations will be in the mid-to-high $80s per SF. The company is planning to go head-to-head with coworking firms for small to midsized companies’ business.

"[Companies] go to a WeWork or one of their competitors because they don’t want the hassle of the fit-out,” Durst spokesperson Jordan Barowitz told TRD. “That’s a place that, with a little bit of ingenuity, we can compete.”

Last year, WeWork was reportedly in negotiations to take a massive space at Durst's One World Trade Center, but the deal fell through. WeWork has since embarked on a widely panned attempt to go public that has resulted in its valuation being slashed and its CEO, Adam Neumann, stepping aside. 

Durst Ready wasn’t the reason WeWork’s lease at One World didn’t make it, per TRD. However, the company has heard from potential tenants seeking flexible space, and wasn’t able to find the right partner, so decided to go it alone.

Tenants can sign leases in Durst Ready spaces for between six months and 15 years, and it will debut with locations including One World Trade Center, 114 West 47th St., 733 Third Ave. and 1155 Sixth Ave.

Coworking and flexible workspace has become a fixture in the New York City office leasing market in recent years, and traditional landlords have been rushing to adapt. Durst certainly isn’t the only landlord to provide its own coworking offerings. Tishman Speyer set up Studio, its own flexible workspace provider, last year. Silverstein Properties has its own flexible workspace arm, Silver Suites, which occupies a floor in 7 World Trade Center.