Courtesy of Knotel A Knotel space in SoHo in New York City Boston’s coworking competition continues to heat up. Knotel has a 4M SF portfolio of flexible office space worldwide, but it has been absent from Boston. That will soon change, Knotel Chief Investment Officer and Global Head of Real Estate Eugene Lee told the Boston Business Journal. The company has been exploring Boston neighborhoods, especially downtown, for months, real estate sources have independently confirmed to Bisnow. But Knotel’s lack of a finalized deal may have to do more with how it fits into the coworking market. Companies like Workbar or WeWork offer coworking space with hot desks that can be rented on shorter terms, usually by the month. Knotel usually offers full-floor deals for at least a year. Finding large blocks of available space in Boston is difficult right now, and it is why there have been a string of new office towers going up around downtown Boston like Winthrop Center and One Congress. Many Knotel clients look for space in the 50K SF to 100K SF range, but the company does sign deals as small as 3K SF, the BBJ reports. The coworking brand’s arrival comes as WeWork has grown into one of the city’s largest office tenants. With a recent deal at One Milk in downtown Boston, WeWork’s local footprint has grown to 1.1M SF. Knotel plans a rapid growth trajectory in Boston, like how it scaled in New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The company went from 100K SF to 2.5M SF in three years in New York while it went from one location to 50 in San Francisco in 18 months.
Knotel is preparing to launch in Boston with plans to grow rapidly in the city and establish a network of offices in a similar way to how it expanded in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The company has been exploring properties in the city for months; however, Knotel typically takes full floor deals and finding large blocks of space in Boston has not been easy. “We have had some success but we are still looking at other options,” said Michael J. O’Connell, president of the company.