Brooklyn Co-Working Operators Pivot as Remote Work Cuts Occupancy

As remote work settled into a permanent rhythm for many New Yorkers, Brooklyn’s once bustling co-working floors have increasingly resembled paused film sets: rows of empty desks, half-full mailboxes and a scramble by operators to find new sources of income beyond day-to-day memberships in neighborhoods from Williamsburg to DUMBO and Park Slope.

Owners and managers across the borough say they are supplementing shrinking membership revenue with event rentals, private suites, long-term flexible leases to small local firms, and partnerships with schools and cultural groups to use space during off-hours. Spaces from a converted warehouse on Flushing Avenue in Gowanus to a boutique hub near Atlantic Terminal are marketing themselves as places for weddings, product launches, film shoots and satellite offices for companies that want a Brooklyn address without the commitment of a conventional lease.

“We stopped treating desks as the primary product,” said Aisha Rafiq, co-founder and chief operating officer of HiveBrooklyn in Bedford-Stuyvesant. “Now we sell time: a weekend wedding, a midweek conference, a month-long private suite to a company piloting a hybrid model. That has helped keep our doors open, even if regular memberships are down.”

The shift has been measurable. In a March 2026 survey of 68 Brooklyn co-working operators by the Brooklyn Flexible Workspace Alliance, average paid occupancy fell from 68 percent in 2019 to 42 percent in 2025. Average monthly memberships per site dropped from 320 to 168 over the same period, and 27 percent of operators reported closing at least one location since 2020. For revenue composition, the survey found event and short-term rentals now account for 18 percent of average revenue, up from 6 percent before the pandemic; private suites and dedicated office products rose to 24 percent of revenue from 11 percent.

Operators in Fulton Ferry and Cobble Hill have leaned into suite conversions. Pier 6 Studios in DUMBO, a building that once relied on hot desks and open-plan teams, carved its sixth floor into six private suites and began offering three-, six- and 12-month flexible leases to creative agencies and boutique law firms. “We had to change our language and our floor plates,” said Marco Alvarez, director of operations at Pier 6 Studios. “Clients still want flexibility, but many are willing to pay a premium for a dedicated door, storage and a meeting room they can use any day of the week.”

Event revenue has taken on a social and community role as well as a financial one. Spaces near Brooklyn Bridge Park and on Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg have built reputations as offbeat wedding venues; a former co-working loft on North 8th Street now rents to film crews during the day and hosts craft markets on Sundays. Several operators report that weekday evening classes — coding boot camps, adult language lessons, nonprofit trainings — help cover utilities and staff costs that membership fees no longer reliably meet.

Landlords and financing have added pressure. Many co-working operators are still on commercial leases signed when demand and valuations were higher, and rising property taxes and insurance costs have narrowed margins. “Landlords don’t always see the submarket reality,” said Leah Kim, executive director of the Brooklyn Flexible Workspace Alliance. “We’re negotiating revenue-share deals, longer-term guarantees and tenant improvements in exchange for lower base rents. It’s a market that requires creativity on both sides.”

From the perspective of tenants, the new products can be attractive. Freelancers and early-stage startups that moved to Brooklyn during the pandemic cite the appeal of stability without a five- or ten-year commitment. “We needed a place where our two full-time staff could come three days a week and we could still host clients,” said Jordan Beckett, founder of Pine & Code, a fintech startup that moved into a private suite in Cobble Hill last fall. “A month-to-month suite with conference-room access beats a sublet that disappears after 60 days.”

Citywide shifts are amplifying the effects. Neighborhoods that gained technology and creative tenants during the 2010s are seeing a rebalancing as some companies consolidate downtown Manhattan footprints or embrace hybrid policies that shrink their physical footprints. At the same time, demand for neighborhood-based space — where a local business can host a community event or a nonprofit can run a workshop — has kept several smaller operators afloat, even as larger national brands reduce footprints in Brooklyn and across the city.

Looking ahead, Brooklyn co-working operators expect further consolidation and more product diversification: more private suites, deeper event services, and hybrid agreements with landlords and service providers. “We’ve learned to be two businesses at once — workspace and venue,” Aisha Rafiq said. “If remote work continues at this pace, the winners will be those who can bend their spaces to meet multiple needs without losing the sense of community that brought people here in the first place.”