IWG Keeps Landlords From Getting Blockbustered; Adds Landlords to Partner Portfolio in 2022

In today’s business world, no brand wants to be “Blockbustered” – destroyed by failing to innovate when the climate around the business dictates change. International Workplace Group (IWG), the largest provider of flexible workspaces worldwide, is at the forefront of helping landlords, building owners, and institutional developers avoid this label by eliminating income losses on empty space. In aiming to help achieve this financial objective, the worldwide flexible workspace leader has added hundreds of new locations via strategic partnerships with landlords and building owners to its partner network in 2022.

IWG is partnering with building owners, and both institutional and individual investors with a solution – fully absentee space management, a program in which IWG activates and manages all of the operations on behalf of the landlord, giving them the ability to generate revenue and operating income with no operational work.

“The group that's in danger of being Blockbustered is landlords and property developers who feel that their only line to success is having tenants willing to sign long-term capital leases,” said Wayne Berger, CEO of IWG of The Americas. “Owners who feel that we are only in a state of flux at this very specific time— the ones who are ignoring the fact that the trend toward flexible and remote work is not just a trend, but a very real part of the future — will suffer long-term, while those who activate flex space in their buildings both from their own income perspective, but also to provide that flexibility for their tenants, will win.”

The IWG portfolio of brands, with more than 3,300 locations in 1,100 cities worldwide — includes Regus, its professional workplace brand; Spaces, its creative workplace brand; HQ, its hassle-free workplace brand; and its luxurious workspace brand, Signature. IWG is currently aggressively targeting North America for expansion, looking to add 1,000 locations each year to its more than 1,200 locations in the U.S. and Canada and eventually surpass 10,000 locations. Much of its expansion is through its landlord investor and property developer model.

“The idea of work happening in one central place is becoming less and less the norm,” Berger said. “And the landlords at risk are those with a traditional, conventional office lease model. We have the solution that provides immediate income to empty space, income premiums versus traditional lease agreements as the flex space location matures, and adding an IWG flexible workspace in your building provides a critical amenity in an industry poised to grow from 4% of total commercial office space to north of 30% of the real estate portfolio within the next 8 years.”

Landlords willing to evolve will also play a critical role in supporting a new form of office culture – remote and flexible.

“The workforce has made it clear they desire flexibility. They have also made it clear that they still want an office culture,” Berger said. “This may seem like asking too much, but in fact, it isn’t. Every time we open a flexible workspace, we open a new opportunity to create this valuable opportunity for people to engage together. Employers can eliminate or greatly reduce the commute and give their employees another option away from the home by leveraging these spaces.”