It is no secret that retail companies are having a hard time in the current property market in Massachusetts and elsewhere. However, shopping mall owners are being creative by filling their empty stores with brand-new offices. After all, coworking is becoming a major trend, with coworking companies branching out in the commercial real estate market.
Right now, retail space spanning around 200 million square feet has already closed or is slated to close soon. Malls are especially facing pressure as they lose struggling stores such as Hudson’s Bay, Macy’s, Sears and J.C. Penney. Few retailers are growing at the same scale and size as they once were.
Experts predict that coworking space will grow by 25 percent at retail commercial properties each year through 2023. By that year, shared space for office uses is slated to take up around 3.4 million square feet. The goal among mall owners is to have coworking spaces become incubators of many types of brand-new brands that may eventually run their own stores at these locations. In fact, an increasing number of landlords are pursuing exclusive or strong relationships with today’s younger, up-and-coming brands.
As the coworking aspect of commercial real estate remains promising, now may be an ideal time to purchase properties that could be used for coworking spaces. However, purchasing real estate property can understandably be complicated. Fortunately, an attorney in Massachusetts can walk an aspiring buyer through the legal aspects of the buying process to make sure that his or her best interests are protected from start to finish.