Coworking provider Mindspace is coming to the Wanamaker Building

This winter, some Center City coworking tenants won’t need to leave the building to get a different kind of afternoon break by popping downstairs and checking out the Macy’s Christmas light show: Global “boutique” coworking provider Mindspace will launch its first Philly location at the Wanamaker Building later this year.

This comes after the company announced a new management agreement with Philadelphia’s Rubenstein Partners, L.P.

The Israel-based Mindspace will operate workspaces for companies of various sizes on behalf of Rubenstein under the Mindspace brand. The 42,000-square-foot location is expected to open in the third quarter of 2020 and will include events areas and tenant lounges.

“We’re very excited by this opportunity to bring our experience with coworking spaces in similar heritage buildings around the world to Philadelphia’s Wanamaker Building,” said Mindspace CEO Dan Zakai in a statement. “Landlords recognize that the traditional leasing model has been disrupted, and that flex spaces and coworking can help broaden their offerings to tenants.”

Through its “Mindspace for Landlords” offering, Mindspace will provide additional management services for building amenities such meeting rooms, communal areas and community programming. It reminds of local flex space operator 1776’s business model shift from signing leases to partnering with asset owners in a management capacity.

“We believe that Mindspace’s approach is consistent with our strategy of delivering a differentiated office experience through providing enhanced amenities and hospitality-style service in the office sector,” said Read Mortimer, senior VP at Rubenstein Partners.

The Wanamaker Building will be the company’s third location in its U.S. expansion, including San Francisco and Washington D.C., for a total of 31 locations in 16 cities. (Full disclosure, Technical.ly hosted both its Super Meetup and Technical.ly Awards in the D.C. space last year.)

In 2019, Philadelphia’s “flexible space” inventory reached 1.1 million square feet — the most it’s ever had, according to a fall report by CBRE. Psst: Here’s your comprehensive 2020 guide to Philadelphia’s coworking spaces.