Serendipity Labs already differentiates itself from other coworking solutions in the minds of office workers with its emphasis on providing a hotel-like atmosphere with a high level of service. For landlords, it sets itself apart by working for them as a property manager that provides services to tenants, instead of the current model their competitors use where they rent from the landlord and then sublet that space further.
To further empower landlords to make the most of their unleased spaces, Serendipity Labs —which has a regional presence in Stamford, Westport, White Plains and Rye —has launched a new subsidiary, WorkplaceCloud LLC, which makes it possible for landlords to maintain complete control over their properties without adopting any branding or undergoing any construction associated with Serendipity Labs while enjoying the comprehensive end-to-end capabilities and services that Serendipity offers.
“The office market has shifted to flexible solutions that address tenant requirements for the hybrid workforce,” said John Arenas, chairman and CEO of Serendipity Labs. “To remain competitive, asset owners need to reposition a substantial part of each building from conventional leases to move-in ready offices and collaborative meeting space.
“Operating flexible space requires a secure, sophisticated platform and a system that large enterprises can trust,” Arenas added. “Licensing our WorkplaceCloud technology gives commercial real estate landlords the tools they need to pivot and meet the rapidly changing market.”
Serendipity Labs locations offer workers access to FINRA- and HIPAA-compliant security features on high-speed internet connections, and WorkplaceCloud will make it easy for landlords to provide that access.
“The value proposition as I see it is this: we run the tech for you and that leaves you free to make the business decisions,” Arenas said.
Arenas also described opportunities for WorkplaceCloud to elevate business centers in hotels and provide them with a ready-made solution for reserving those spaces. As more people continue to work from home in the post-pandemic period, Arenas considered their platform as a potentially attractive option for office spaces within apartment buildings where people may want to regularly “work from home” but not necessarily from their apartment itself.
WorkplaceCloud also improved the visibility of listings, according to Arenas.
“It makes leasing easier, and it spreads access to your inventory far beyond your immediate area,” he said, noting that instead of offering single rooms or desks through only a local broker, the entire inventory of spaces will be visible across the entire network, allowing potential renters to see a dream office space on the far side of the country with full confidence that it will offer the full suite of abilities they might want.
According to Arenas, services like Serendipity Labs and WorkplaceCloud will be in increasing demand across the country.
“My long-term prognosis is that 20-30% of all office space is going to be some kind of flex-space in the future,” Arenas said, citing as evidence how the pandemic upended traditional approaches to real estate. Not only has working from home become an increasingly common situation, which increased the market for smaller more flexible spaces, Arena pointed out that companies maintaining traditional office space have demonstrated a preference for shorter leases so that they can more readily respond to changes in the market.
Even if a landlords are confident in their ability to provide a full-featured space, Arenas expressed certainty that WorkplaceCloud’s ability to provide landlords with access to marketing, sales and security solutions represents a major value-add that simultaneously gives them more reach, putting their turnkey solution facility in front of potential renters across the country.
