Whether your work in cannabis or construction, niche coworking spaces are on the rise. These spaces are tailored to meet the needs of specific industries, demographics, lifestyles, genders or personal tastes.
With an estimated eight new coworking spaces opening every day, niche coworking spaces stand apart from the other generic workspaces flooding the market by targeting the needs of individual groups.
As a result, they are often more successful than regular coworking spaces, but only if they can offer something different to the market and open in a location where there is demand for the niche they want to serve.
Top Niche Coworking Spaces
The Wing is a female-focused space that’s undergoing a rapid expansion. Originally based in New York, the Wing recently opened up its fifth location in the US and plans to open up six additional spaces in the US, Canada and the UK. It also recently extended its scholarship program, which offers free membership to women in underrepresented fields.
But setting up a gender-specific niche coworking space is not without its challenges. The Wing was under investigation in 2018 by the New York Human Rights Commission to see if its space violates the city’s public accommodations law. In 2019, the Wing reportedly adjusted its membership policy to allow all genders.
The Hera Hub is a growing collection of coworking spaces offering a “workspace for women”. Hera Hub has locations across Carlsbad, San Diego, Washington DC, Phoenix and Sweden, with three new spaces in the pipeline. It targets female entrepreneurs across a range of industries.
The Riveter is another space aimed at the female demographic, although it also welcomes men and gender fluid individuals, and recently closed a $15 million Series A funding round. With locations across Austin, Los Angeles and Seattle, it is a self-proclaimed membership network “built by women, for everyone.”
The New Women Space (NWS) in Brooklyn, NY, USA was kickstarted by a crowdfunding campaign, which raised $17,000 in less than two weeks back in 2016. NWS is primarily an event space “centered on gender equity, creative expression and celebration of identity.” It also runs a regular workspace and its programming is “led by women, femme, queer, transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.”
Industry-focused niche coworking spaces are a popular option, providing flexible workspaces across a range of sectors.
Based in Denver, Tradecraft Industries provides a workspace for the design and construction industries. The 19,000 square-foot building contains the usual workspaces, offices and meeting rooms alongside material and equipment storage for its members.
Also in Denver, the Green Spaces eco-coworking space is a 100% solar-powered building with a focus on zero waste. It’s also just opened up a new space in downtown Winter Park, offering members access to both locations. But the really cool thing – pun intended – about the new Winter Park location is that you can travel to the space using the city’s Ski Train.
Over in Bellevue, WA, the extraSlice space targets tech companies with its on-demand workspace, full-blown technology campus and platform. From startups to established organizations, it caters for tech businesses of all sizes and was founded by former engineers that understand the intricacies of working in the world of technology. It recently raised $1 million in funding.
In Boston, niche space The Food Loft focuses on food and food tech startups and offers a mentor network available to all of its members. Over in Minneapolis, Cornerstone Studios offers a workspace for wedding industry entrepreneurs.
There are even cannabis-related coworking spaces. In California, Gateway Works targets cannabis startups. The space’s website states: “You’ll work alongside the top emerging cannabis entrepreneurs participating in Gateway’s accelerator program, and network with your peers and top mentors in the cannabis space.”
Los Angeles-based Paragon, which is a company that provides supply chain tracking for the cannabis industry, has also just opened its ParagonSpace coworking space for cannabis-related companies in Hollywood.
Best of the rest for niche coworking spaces
Coworking spaces are often lauded for their stunning aesthetics. A handful of workspaces target the design and creative sector. For example, the Pioneer Collective is an independently owned design-oriented space in Seattle and Rough Draft in New York is a creative studio where artists and designers come together in a space that feels like a distraction-free cross between a living room and coffee shop.
Other niche coworking spaces target people with a specific background or interest, such as the Landing Space in New Orleans, which is made for veterans. The 30,000 square-foot facility offers a range of workspaces, social areas and helps vets foster their business ideas.
In Washington D.C., the Flow Yoga Center focuses on wellness with a yoga studio integrated into its coworking space. There are also two Paragraph workspaces in New York, which are specifically designed for writers. They offer silent spaces with an absolute ban on all external noise – and white noise machines in case you can’t concentrate – to create an atmosphere conducive to writing
