Coworking operator buys Broadway building, plans more salon space
The owner is increasing the number of salon suite rentals at the coworking space to make up for the slow return of office workers.
Danny Needham trades office desks for chairs in his newly acquired coworking space.
Grid Collaborative Workspaces owner Needham bought the approximately 20,000 square foot building at 445 N. Broadway for $5.1 Million, according to records. He currently operates both a salon suite rental and a coworking area.
Needham stated, 'I have always wanted to buy the building from our tenant since the beginning and was finally able to do that right before things started to get crazy.
Henry Worth, LLC, a company affiliated with Curtis Fentress, the founder of Fentress Architects, was both landlord and seller. Grid's office is located on the same block as Fentress Architects, at 421 N. Broadway.
Needham opened Grid Collaborative Workspaces for the first time in 2017. Needham operates a Grid location not only in Broadway, but also in Overland Park.
Since then, Grid has seen a gradual return to work attitude from employees who are embracing working at home. Grid currently has around 30 coworking members.
He said, "They just haven't come back yet."
Needham, in response to the fact that fewer people are coming to work, is returning to the business model he created 18 years ago.
Needham opened his first location of Solera Salon Suites in Lone Tree, Colorado, in 2005. Needham was inspired to start coworking by the salon suite rentals. If he could rent space to salon professionals he thought he could also do it for officegoers. Solera now has four more locations in Georgia, Kansas, Centennial, and Denver.
Needham converted the basement of Grid's Broadway store into 45 salon suites that are now fully occupied. He is adding 25 more suites to this.
Needham will not give up office space entirely. He still plans to dedicate approximately 8,000 square foot of Grid to coworking space and shared office space. Also, the event space is also available.
Needham believes that demand for office space is likely to return at some point.
He said: 'I thought it would already be back. But hopefully, we will be moving in this direction soon.'
In August of last year, a LLC affiliated with Curtis Fentress lodged a complaint regarding Grid Collaborative Workspaces' first right to refuse the purchase of the building. In the lawsuit, it was stated that the landlord wanted to sell several properties in the area to a party interested in redevelopment. Denver-based Magnetic capital filed a concept design with the city at 421 N. Broadway - Fentress Architects office - for a 264 unit, eight-story development with retail space on the ground floor. The lawsuit was dropped in December.