Co-sharing work space

[David Finley]

Has anyone done any cosharing workspace?  A space that has all the office equipment an people pay for a membership versus lease. I have a comercial office building that is 12 years old and to this day it has never been over 75% filled. I have a population of about 60k within 15 mi radius. Would love for this property to pay its own way, and I'm thinking low cost membership may work with work from home people.  

[Derek Robinson]

I opened an operated a co-working space last year.  I'm in a highly populated area where the work from home population is very high.  Before I opened I had tons of people chomping at the bit to get in.  Im in a downtown area with tons  of walkable restaurants, bars, etc and heavily populated residential.  All local news outlets covered the opening, I did a mailing campaign, social media ads, etc.  The space was beautiful and we had all the amenities anyone would need.  Yet, I couldn't break even in the first year.  The level of interest dropped severely once people had to pay for it.  I'd get a lot of people asking to use the space for free or at a large discount.  There are a few other co-working space on other parts of town, most of which still have some co-working, but have made a transition to single offices and suites for small companies.  There are others in NC that have shut their doors after 3 to 5 years.  In my personal experience, most spaces still open are those with trust funds or other businesses that keep co-working open just for the fun of it.  Not to rain on your parade, just giving you my personal experience.  It seems to be an idea the people (20s and 30s) love in theory, but aren't willing to pay for when they can do most of their work from home and coffee shops.