Historically, urban environments have been at the center of office life. Commuting to a high-rise in a busy – often expensive – downtown area was seen as the cost of doing business. Now, that thinking is shifting.

People accustomed to working from home and avoiding time spent in traffic are loath to return to the old way of doing things. Companies are recognizing they don’t have to maintain such a large real estate footprint in the central business district.

As a result, we’re seeing a significant shift to a “hub-and-spoke” model, in which a company maintains a smaller central office in a downtown while establishing one or more smaller offices in suburbs, giving employees the benefits of a dedicated office environment closer to home.

The logistics of managing many small offices are complicated and obtaining several traditional leases in one market poses financial challenges for some. Coworking space is the perfect solution, offering companies multiple locations with flexible space options and no operations or management hassle. By working with one coworking provider that has multiple locations in a metro area, companies can work with a single representative and streamline the process.