At the Global Workspace Association (GWA) Conference in Atlanta on September 19, 2013, our CEO Laurent Dhollande discussed some of the data available in the 2013 GWA Financial Survey. “The Survey is a gold mine for Workspace-as-a-Service operators,” said Laurent. “It does not give you all the answers but it raises the right questions,” he added.
The average revenue per square foot of all 391 respondents was $45.2. The data includes some coworking spaces and some international players, but is skewed towards flexible office spaces in the U.S.. The average revenue per square foot for the high profit centers was $63.2. High profit centers are defined as the top 25percentile in terms of profits. Laurent pointed out that one single statistic like this one does not tell the whole story. For example a center with $63.2 of revenue per square foot in a class A building in Manhattan would likely lose a lot of money while a center with $45.2 of revenue per square foot in a Class B building in Omaha Nebraska is likely to be extremely profitable. “The survey slices and dices the data in multiple ways, such as geographically or by type of ownership, which allows operators to triangulate and give them a sense of where they stands vis-a-vi their peers. In turn, it gives them a better chance to learn from the performance of others and learn from best practices,” Laurent added.
