Coworking Company Buys Building for Florida Expansion
Firms Targets Gulf Coast for New Location

By Paul Owers
CoStar Group
Published: Feb 20, 2020

A Chicago-based coworking provider acquired a building on Florida’s Gulf Coast for its fourth location in the Sunshine State.

Novel Coworking bought 333 Third Ave. N and a 1-acre lot in St. Petersburg for $6.9 million from Synovus Financial Corp., CoStar data and property records show.

The downtown location is expected to include private offices, suites and a rooftop patio, according to the company's website. Once Novel's space is built out, it plans to open the location around August or September, according to CoStar research.

Officials did not return calls for additional comment.

Novel lists locations in 29 markets nationwide, including Florida offices in Orlando, Miami and Jacksonville. Monthly prices range from $59 for virtual offices to $2,999 for office suites, according to the website.

In Orlando, Novel bought The Angebilt building and renovated the first two floors for coworking space with the ability to expand into the entire building in the near future, noted Brian Alford, CoStar's director of market analytics for Central and West Florida.

WeWork, Industrious, WorkLodge and Station House are among other coworking firms to enter the greater Tampa market in the past year. Factoring in space to be added in 2020, coworking is expected to account for about 700,000 square feet in the Tampa metropolitan area, less than 0.6% of the entire market’s office inventory, Alford explained.

"While co-working is rapidly growing and is here to stay, it is still a relatively small piece of the Tampa office landscape," he said in an email.

Novel is unique among coworking providers because it buys the buildings where it operates flexible work space. Office developers and investors across the country are grappling with how to tackle flexible office space leases, which are often short-term and present a possible risk in the event of an economic downturn.

For the Record

Kelley Matheson with CBRE listed the property for the seller. Bank OZK provided financing for the buyer.

powers@costar.com @paulowers