Flexible office company Industrious is seeing significant growth

A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olek. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. subscription To receive future issues, directly to your inbox.

Just a year ago, commercial real estate was a giant CBRE It was acquired by Industrious, a flexible office company that opened its first space in 2013 and has grown at a dizzying pace in the wake of the pandemic.

At the time, CBRE said in a statement that Industrious’s success was “the result of continued investment in understanding what makes a great workplace, coupled with continuous operational improvement.”

And it was a fair bet. In 2025, Industrious increased its global footprint by 58% as of 2024, now with more than 250 units open in more than 100 cities, according to the company. He expects 100% growth in new signings in 2026.

Industrious currently ranks third in its sector, in terms of number of spaces and total square footage, behind International Workplace Group (owner of Regus) and WeWork.

The global flexible office market is expected to grow from a value of $54.59 billion in 2025 to $147.2 billion by 2033, according to SkyQuest.

While the prime office sector is still slowly recovering from the pandemic and the new work-from-home culture, flexible offices, which include co-working spaces, are benefiting from this slow recovery. Big companies want people back in the office, but they are also increasingly focusing on the workplace experience for those who don’t work at headquarters.

“I would say the biggest thing that’s driving this is the focus on the corporate side to try to bring their mid-sized and small-sized offices up to the quality of their headquarters so people don’t leave for a competitor and need help with that,” said Jimmy Hodary, founder and CEO of Industrious. “It’s very difficult for JPMorgan or Google to run a great, engaging office experience for 43 people.”

Hodari said there are large cities with very large office space, but there are also smaller cities and regions with very little space. This plays directly into the flexible office model.

“You have all these people who basically want to work close to where they live. They want to bike to work. They want to walk. They want to drive 5 minutes to work,” Hodari said.

Of the last 50 coworking spaces opened at Industrious, a disproportionate number are in neighbourhoods, rather than large central business districts.

There is also a campaign by owners of Class B office buildings, which still have high vacancy, to renovate their properties in order to attract new tenants. Industrious can capitalize on this simply through its business model, which is different from other flexible office companies.

Instead of leasing entire buildings, Industrious operates more like a hotel management company. The company signs management agreements with the owners to operate part of the building. Instead of paying a monthly rent to the owner, profits and risks were also divided. This “asset-light” approach makes Industrious more resilient during economic downturns because it is not constrained by huge, long-term lease payments.

Industrious specializes in a more hospitality-focused environment, building spaces that resemble boutique hotels more than traditional offices. It also attracts a more diverse tenant.

“There are a lot of people doing great things within the building, so we hear from landlords all the time, ‘Hey, I have this whole building, let’s say it’s half leased, and I want to drive the rest of the building,’” said Anna Squires Levin, president of Industrious. How can I make the lobby not a restricted area?

Industrious is clearly banking on better times in the office market right now, and Levine said she doesn’t see any pain from the weaker hiring reports. However, the risks of flex can be very significant.

“It’s a sector that outperforms in good times and underperforms in bad times,” Houdry said. “So you’ll do better than long-term leasing when things are good, and when you hit a recession or when something like Covid happens, long-term leasing might go down 6% or 10% and flex might go down 25%.”