Chetrit to open flex-office location near Penn Station

Flexibility is seen as key to attracting tenants

315 West 35th Street with Isaac Chetrit and DJ Dashti (Google Maps, Linkedin, iStock)
315 West 35th Street with Isaac Chetrit and DJ Dashti (Google Maps, Linkedin, iStock)

Eli and Isaac Chetrit are joining a growing number of landlords trying to attract tenants by offering more flexibility.

Workville, a flex-office company founded by Isaac Chetrit, Jacob Aini and D.J. Dashti, is opening a 60,000-square-foot location, occupying the entire building at 315 West 35th Street, Crain’s reported. The 14-story building is owned by Eli and Isaac Chetrit as well as Aini, according to public records. Isaac Chetrit and Aini purchased the property for $43 million in 2015.

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The building will offer offices between 1,100 and 5,000 square feet to accommodate 10 to 50 people.

Terms will be less rigid than in traditional leases.

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“A five- to 10-year lease — even the corporate companies don’t want to do that anymore,” Ezra Aini, Workville’s landlord partner, told Crain’s. “They would want the flexibility.”

As tenants face an uncertain post-Covid future and office availability in Manhattan hits historic highs, more landlords are adopting flex-office models. Some, such as TF Cornerstone, Thor Equities and LIVWRK, have teamed up with flex-office provider Industrious, which operates space on behalf of landlords on a management contract, rather than signing traditional leases.

CBRE recently paid about $200 million to acquire a 35 percent stake in Industrious.

The flex-office trend is happening against the backdrop of struggles by coworking companies such as WeWork and Knotel. WeWork has been retrenching after spinning out of control in 2019, and Knotel was bought by Newmark after filing for Chapter 11.

[Crain’s] — Akiko Matsuda