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Co-working company takes 41K sf at Durst Midtown property

Serendipity Labs to run three floors at 205 East 42nd Street

Durst Organization chairman Douglas Durst with 205 East 42nd Street
Durst Organization chairman Douglas Durst with 205 East 42nd Street (Loopnet, Getty, Durst)
By
Feb 15, 2023, 3:00 PM

The Durst Organization is giving co-working another shot at its building near Grand Central Terminal.

Flex-office provider Serendipity Labs signed a 10-year lease for 41,000 square feet at 205 East 42nd Street, Crain’s reported. The Westchester-based company will operate co-working space across three floors in the building.

Serendipity Labs is expected to operate 91 offices within the 532,000-square-foot property, spanning 450 desks. The setup will include private event space, rooftop terrace access and two cafes.

This is not Durst’s first go-around with a co-working firm at the property, as WeWork formerly occupied space there. The embattled company closed the space in 2021, leaving behind 125,000 square feet.

JLL’s Michael Berman represented Serendipity in the lease, while Durst was represented in-house by Robert Becker and Lauren Ferrentino, according to a release. Serendipity is expected to open at the start of next month.

As remote and hybrid work persist past the worst of the pandemic, co-working companies are seizing an opportunity to gain ground in the office market. Office leases are dragging and co-working firms are filling the void, operating across 5,700 locations in the country last year.

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Serendipity Labs CEO John Arenas alluded to trend among office spaces in a statement about the company’s latest location, which he called “a flexible alternative to long-term office leasing for companies that have decided to downsize their fixed real estate commitment.”

Durst was slightly ahead of the trend when it launched its own flexible office space arm in late 2019, just before the onset of the pandemic. A website for Durst Ready shows just over a dozen availabilities. 

Serendipity Labs has locations in the Tri-state area and the United Kingdom, but it’s far from the biggest operator in this space. That distinction belongs to Regus, which had 832 locations in the United States last year, according to CommercialEdge data reported by CoworkingCafe, a Yardi-owned platform. That count includes 100 locations in New York City and the greater Tri-state area.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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