CommonGrounds Brings More Coworking Space to Center City

coworking

Coworking is the newest trend in unconventional office space.

With coworking being a major theme in the lives of a large pool of nontraditional workers who eschew a 9-5 job served out in a cubicle, can there ever be enough options for a social, well-equipped place to work? San Diego-based CommonGrounds is testing that theory with an enormous new coworking space in Center City West, the company’s first location on the East Coast. CommonGrounds will occupy 62,000 square feet of 1700 Market Street, spread over two floors. The lease is long-term and will begin in early 2020. Market Street has become something of a ground zero for coworking space, with several other providers within a stone’s throw.

1700 Market is owned by Shorenstein Properties, which has made a large amount of spendy capital improvements since it bought the building from Nightingale Properties in 2016. Due to the upgrades, Shorenstein has been able to secure a host of desirable new tenants.

CommonGrounds is fueling its rapid expansion with a $100 million Series A funding round. Since January of this year the company has signed six new leases, expanding their existing footprint of seven markets from California to Minnesota to include Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Seattle – and, of course, Philadelphia.

As mentioned, CommonGrounds will be the biggest coworking space in the area. Will it be attractive enough to lure people from the slew of nearby competitors, however? From BisNow: