Re: [Coworking] Opening a co-working space in NYC

[Tony Bacigalupo]

Hi Remo!

Hello fellow New Yorker! Can you share some more details about what you're building? I'm always happy to meet fellow coworking community builders in the city and see how I can be of help!

There's no legal requirement that mandates 100sf/desk; it's just a rule of thumb for traditional workspace planning. Every space has a different model, so how you make your numbers work will depend a lot on what you're trying to accomplish.

Would love to talk more!

Cheers,
Tony Bacigalupo

New Work City

On Thu, Oct 18, 2012 at 2:14 PM, Remo Carbone <remoc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi all,

We are in the early stages of planning a co-working space in NYC and have started running the numbers. We have been told that the legal requirement for office space is 100sf per desk and the ratio of members that everyone seems to be using for a co-working space is around 1.5, ie for 20 desks there are 30 members. 

The per sq $ is the tricky part as we have been quoted approx $40 per sq/ft. We don't seem to make the numbers work but then we see other places who are in prime locations in the city and would definitely be paying more than us being successful. 

Any ideas as to whether we are missing important information or if our assumptions are incorrect? 

Thanks in advance for any help!

Remo 

--
Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com
 
 

[Jerome Chang]

Oh, I highly doubt it....The typical building code EXPECTS 100 sf/person (occupancy load factor).  How you choose to go above or below that expectation is up to you.  That load factor then determines the egress width, door width, etc.

So, if you were to grant 200 sf/person, the building dept would then underwrite your drawings as 100 sf/person anyway.

If you were to only allocate 75 sf/person, the building dept would still underwrite as 100 sf/person.

And if you're going to really count your sf, the 100 sf/person is only in the office area, not storage, not kitchen, etc.  You can designate one area as "event" (assembly occupancy), then another as office, etc.  That's how restaurants can seemingly pack it in!

Jerome, architect
______________
BLANKSPACES
"work FOR yourself, not BY yourself"

www.blankspaces.com
5405 Wilshire Blvd (2 blocks west of La Brea) Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.330.9505 (office)