CommonGrounds Workplace has signed a lease at 1500 K Street for 29,509 square feet and the flexible workspace is slated to open early next year.

CommonGrounds is an enterprise-grade, Workplace-as-a-Service company that collaborates with office owners to provide premium flexible coworking space for companies of all sizes in multiple U.S. cities. There are currently five U.S. locations open with an additional five summer openings in Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Portland.

The 11-year lease signed at 1500 K Street includes the entire second floor and ground floor retail space which provides direct connectivity to K Street. In 2018, Grosvenor Americas completed a $20+ million renovation of the eleven-story heritage property. The extensive refurbishment included restoring the lobby and common areas, upgrading mechanical systems, improving historic exterior fixtures, enhancing the rooftop terrace and implementing a new fitness center.

The Class A mixed-use office and retail building is located in D.C.'s Central Business District, adjacent to McPherson Square and one block north of the White House on the K Street corridor. The location is easily accessible to both red and orange rapid transit lines connecting workers to Arlington, Virginia and Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, Maryland.

"Washington D.C. is a powerhouse corporate destination," said Jacob Bates, Chief Executive Officer for CommonGrounds Workplace. "We are thrilled to begin working with world-class, forward-thinking owner, Grosvenor Americas at 1500 K in this vibrant business district in our nation's Capital. With limited coworking operators and strong spec-suite demand, our premium move-in ready workplaces will be a welcome addition for companies of all sizes."

1500 K Street represents the fourth CommonGrounds Workplace lease signed in 2019, as part of the company's $100 million Series A funding expansion program. The company announced long-term leases totaling just under 130,000 square feet in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Seattle.

"Companies are solving workforce demands for flexibility and mobility with coworking and shared workplaces," said Bates. "Our enterprise-grade hackable architecture, made possible with our exclusive demountable wall system, allows us to design and build out spaces nearly on-demand. This enables companies to respond to their business dynamics, customers, and team's growth needs in real-time, setting us apart from alternative space solutions."

"We are pleased to welcome CommonGrounds to 1500 K," said Doug Jung, Grosvenor's Senior Investment Manager, "Collectively, we strongly value tenant comfort and enjoyment which was a focal part of our refurbishment program. Our progressive building designs and amenities will complement the exciting updates planned for the CommonGround space."

The company's in-house design division will lead the design and oversee the renovation of the CommonGounds space. The architect of record will be BBGM. Sound abating demountable wall systems by Tecno, Milan, Italy, and enterprise-grade furniture by Pair, San Francisco, Calif., will be used throughout the workplace.

Kevin Howard, Mark Klug, Lara Nealon and Dimitri Hajimihalis with CBRE represented Grosvenor Group. Jim Suber with Strategic Real Estate Advisory and Laurent Myers with Savills USA represented CommonGrounds in both lease negotiations.

About CommonGrounds Workplace

CommonGrounds Workplace is a Workplace-as-a-Service (WaaS) operator with flexible workplace products and services. The company's enterprise-grade, human-centric workplace typologies create highly productive and brandable environments for companies of all sizes.

CommonGrounds currently has locations in Denver, Long Beach, Salt Lake City, San Diego and San Jose, with summer openings in Burbank, Fort Worth, Houston, Minneapolis and Portland. To date, total leases and management agreements under contract comprise over 472,000 square feet in 18 locations.

CommonGrounds will expand its footprint to two million square feet across roughly 50 locations in the next 24 months with additional openings scheduled for late 2019 and 2020.

Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., the privately held company completed its Series A funding in January 2019 totaling $100 million. CommonGrounds was established in 2015. For more information, please visit cgworkplace.com.

About Grosvenor Americas

Grosvenor Americas is an active developer, investor and co-investor across Canada and the USA. Our strategy is to invest in vibrant urban locations where our activities can make a positive contribution to neighbourhoods and communities.

Our active development pipeline focuses on projects in urban, transit-oriented and/or amenity-rich neighbourhoods and includes Crescent, in San Francisco and The Pacific in downtown Vancouver, as well as the second phase of Grosvenor Ambleside in West Vancouver. Our Structured Development Finance programme invests in apartment, condominium, town home and mixed-use developments across our active markets, with a focus on vibrant, well-connected locations. Our Investment programme adds value to residential, retail and commercial assets in high-quality places.

Grosvenor Americas is part of the Grosvenor Group, one of the world's largest privately-owned property companies which develops, manages and invests in property in more than 60 cities around the world.

As at 31 December 2018, Grosvenor Americas had assets under management of CAD $5.2bn. www.grosvenor.com