Jon Wheeler, a seasoned real estate executive based in Virginia Beach, has spent decades shaping the retail investment landscape through his expertise in grocery-anchored shopping centers. As CEO of Resurgent Realty Trust, he connects investors to resilient retail properties across the country and applies a strategic perspective to emerging asset classes such as coworking real estate. With extensive experience in property acquisition, financing, and management, Mr. Wheeler provides insight into the evolving dynamics of the commercial real estate sector. His understanding of shifting market demands and his leadership within the industry underscore the growing importance of flexible workspace models in the United States. His perspective reflects how the coworking trend complements traditional real estate investment strategies.
An Overview of Coworking Real Estate in the US
Real estate professionals in the United States have faced many shifting dynamics over the last decade-plus. America’s ongoing housing crisis has depleted the national housing inventory and dramatically changed buyer and seller trends. Fewer young adults are buying houses than ever before, with many Gen Z and millennial adults saying they cannot afford their first homes. Mobile home park communities have provided stable, recession-resistant cash flows for real estate investors interested in diversifying their portfolios, but securing traditional financing can prove challenging. Another area of interest involves the coworking, community industrial, and warehouse markets, particularly smaller format spaces ranging from 500 to 5,000 square feet.
Coworking real estate provides advantages to a diversity of professionals; in fact, coworking spaces can function as both an investment and a place of work for real estate pros. Put simply, a coworking space is a modestly sized office shared by multiple workers, including independent workers and employees from different companies. Coworking spaces provide a range of benefits, from decreased costs to expanded networking opportunities.
Research suggests that the coworking real estate sector is poised to grow dramatically in 2025 and beyond, providing investors with opportunities for exceptional economic returns. Several factors have contributed to the rise of coworking real estate in the US, such as the widespread adoption of the hybrid work model.
Hybrid workers are employees who spend a portion of their time working from home and the remainder of their work week in the office. Both employees and employers can benefit from spending office time in a coworking space as opposed to a traditional office building that stands empty for several days per week. Studies suggest that 64 percent of executives work hybrid models, while 22 percent of the US workforce is entirely remote and may only need office space for a handful of days per year. Gallup states that approximately 60 percent of workers with remote-capable jobs prefer a hybrid work arrangement, while 84 percent of employees perform more efficiently working from home, suggesting the hybrid work model is here to stay.
Real estate professionals interested in the coworking space must follow key trends to determine when and where to invest. Despite the increase in hybrid and remote work, many industries have issued return-to-office mandates following remote work arrangements that developed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Investors need to closely monitor which industries are more likely to return to offices, and what individual companies are planning to forego traditional offices for coworking spaces and similar arrangements. Fortunately, studies suggest that almost 60 percent of corporations issuing these return-to-office mandates intend to adopt flexible work schedules.
Return-to-office mandates may represent a temporary trend before hybrid work arrangements become the norm. One study found that while 80 percent of companies across multiple industries have established return-to-office policies, fewer than 20 percent of those companies have actually enforced the policy.
Coworking spaces represent the best of both worlds, providing businesses with physical locations that facilitate teamwork and collaboration, but allow for flexible employee schedules and decreased real estate costs. Unsurprisingly, numerous coworking and smaller-format office space companies have launched operations throughout the US, including ReadySpaces, Portal, Warespace, Cubework, and more.
About Jon Wheeler
Jon Wheeler is a Virginia Beach-based real estate executive with extensive experience in grocery-anchored shopping centers. He leads Resurgent Realty Trust, focusing on the acquisition and management of grocery-centered retail assets. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Perrine Wheeler, where he established long-term relationships with tenants and developed data-driven investment strategies. Mr. Wheeler is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the National Association of Real Estate Trusts.
