By John Arenas | July 4, 2015

The Residential Coworking Experience

Residential Coworking has Arrived

Cranes are back in the skylines and new residential towers are being built to attract millennial buyers.   These buyers’ value 6×16 vibrancy, organic/sleek designs, and a sense of community, social responsibility, sustainability and work life balance.    To compete, developers are creating so-called live-work-play experiences with amenities and services like fitness centers, dedicated zip car services and now work lounges.  As a result of these common amenities, owners actually require less and less living space and developers achieve a higher returns on the real estate.

Workers, who are increasingly independent, are driving live-work-play amenity demand.  The IDRC projects that up to 60% off US knowledge workers will be independent by 2020.  Workplace mobility and ubiquitous technical connectivity mean that work is increasingly ‘activity based’, rather than location-based.    Work has become a set of activities that are integrated into life, rather than a confined to a specific space and time.   The 9-5 block of time at the headquarters office is a 20th century relic.    By integrating work, live, play into residential living, occupants have more flexibility and control over how, when, where and if they work.

So why not just work from an 650sf apartment? Workers say they would rather not work from home, citing lack of peer equity, social exclusion, distraction, interruption and lack of a setting conducive to work.   Enter Serendipity Labs, with vibrant work lounges, meeting rooms, private workspaces, and convivial coworking settings, technology and concierge services all delivered as a world-class hospitality brand.

It’s indisputable now that work and the concept of workplace have changed forever.   Knowledge workers and work processes have been liberated from the ancient constraints of time and place.   They are reshaping the real estate world from the outside in.  The best developers and property owners are heeding the call for designs that serve the new class of untethered worker.

The 37 story Centro Miami residential tower being built by Newgard Group in downtown Miami is nearing completion. Newgard has partnered with Serendipity Labs to integrate a full coworking offering on two floors, with street level access and a private elevator to add value to the residential experience. The amenity set also includes a rooftop pool, car-share lane, hip restaurant, social lounge and of course fitness area with views.