Houston's WorkLodge coworking space coming to St. Petersburg
The Texas company is the latest of several co working spaces to arrive in Tampa Bay

By Sara DiNatale
Tampa Bay Times
Published: Mar 28, 2019

ST. PETERSBURG - Houston-based coworking space company WorkLodge will open its first location outside of the Lone Star state across from Williams Park this October.

The St. Pete location will be about 28,000 square feet and take up the second and third floors of the office building at 136 Fourth St. N. WorkLodge CEO and founder Mike Thakur said that's just the beginning for his company's expansion.

"The park across the street? The main drag a block away?" Thakur said of their future Florida digs. "In Texas we work so hard to find spaces. None of them are like this one in St. Pete."

Thakur has plans to open and franchise even more locations in Florida. At least one is already underway in South Florida. Although coworking spaces are often looked at as an alternative to working at home, the bulk of WorkLodge's clients are established companies.

The businesses rent a space or suite without having to worry about committing to a lease agreement or dealing with the interior setup.

<"Commercial real estate is just scary," Thakur said. "Small- or medium-sized companies need to go find a broker, look at a bunch of spaces, get a lawyer involved. Facilities become such a burden."

WorkLodge's pitch is it will do all that work for its clients so they can focus on growing their new business.

The St. Petersburg space will have about 3,000 square feet as a general coworking area and 18,000 square feet for private offices, which will range in size to hold up to 30 workers.

The office will also have event space and conference rooms open to its members as well as the community.

Station House, another coworking space, is nearby on First Ave S. That local coworking company is opening its second location in South Tampa's Hyde Park in April. Other similar spaces in the area include CoWorkTampa, Tampa Bay Wave and CoCreativ.

Coworking giant WeWork also announced in January it would be moving into Tampa with 50,000 square feet in a new Heights district development. Contact Sara DiNatale at sdinatale@tampabay.com. Follow @sara_dinatale.