Tishman Speyer is going global with its ZO initiative, betting on flexible space as “part of the office of the future”, giving clients access to coworking facilities in 41 locations around the world, including four in San Francisco.
The program provides members with workspace and social activities at the Tishman Speyer Building,”can help our customers [encourage office attendance and] attract and retain top talent,” EB Kelly, Senior Managing Director of Tishman Speyer in charge of ZO, Said by email.
Tishman Speyer isn’t the only company looking to flexible spaces to entice workers back into the office environment. The ZO program is part of a broader shift to emphasize the office building experience that was on the rise before the pandemic, but it really stands out as a way to provide office workers with the amenities they’ve grown accustomed to at home, according to Avison Nick Slonek of Young said. The brokerage represents 44 Montgomery Street, which has a similar amenity program called Shift from co-working brand Industrious. It hosts networking events, fitness classes and community service days at selected Beacon Capital Partners buildings across the country.
“People these days, if they’re going to work, they’re living in their space more as if it’s a home office rather than an office,” Slonek said. “You want to hang out and take advantage of the different things that are out there.”
Tishman Speyer’s ZO program originally launched in 2017, but before ZO Global Access, tenants could only use breakout spaces, “nap pods” and events in their own building.Through a global program launched last month, they will now be able to New York, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles Angelis and San Francisco, as well as eight international locations from Brazil to the UK.
Since the end of last month, the company has seen “both locals looking for a place to work for a few hours and people from our global markets” who can now communicate using ZO spaces rather than hotel lobbies, Kelly said.
ZO’s San Francisco locations are located at 333 Bush Street, One Bush Street, 160 Spear Street and 595 Market Street.
Locally, The Roxborough Group, which leases the space at One Bush Street, and T. Rowe Price has been contacted to learn more about the new global program. This month, Tishman Speyer plans to promote AAPI Heritage Month with events at two of Bush’s buildings, which will also be open to “the entire district,” he said.
Tishman Speyer also has a more traditional co-working product, Studio, which is separate from ZO but has some overlap. San Francisco’s ZO amenities, for example, include outdoor and lobby-level lounges, as well as day passes to studio locations at 333 Bush and 595 Market.
We work 2.0?
Avison Young’s Slonek said Tishman Speyer “stealed a little bit from WeWork’s playbook” with its new global ZO product.
“If you’re a WeWork member, you’re a WeWork member and you can go wherever you want,” he said, adding that he thinks the ZO would be useful for San Francisco companies looking to take advantage of the amenities their own buildings have, and when employees travel to other cities.
Amenity spaces aren’t just “an elevator to the experience,” Slonek said, but also a way to reduce costs for tenants because they don’t have to factor in social and networking usage when deciding how much space they need in their offices.
Tishman Speyer is also adding more Studio and Studio Gather flex spaces to the Phase 1 apartment building mission rock Because these facilities “performed very, very well” elsewhere in the city, Tishman managing director Maggie Kaden told TRD last fallThe added flexibility has made companies looking for lab space in adjacent buildings intrigued by the idea of signing up for a smaller footprint, with room to expand or host work events as needed, she said.
