Salt Lake City Leads Nation in Flex-Office Growth

Lloyd Allen

Salt Lake City is leading the nation in flexible office space growth. The Silicon Slope—the name given to the booming tech sector in Salt Lake City—is attracting big name flexible office providers to set up shop in the market. According to a new report from CBRE, the Salt Lake City market added 350,000 square feet of flexible office space in the second quarter, a total market increase of 89.9%.

The preference for flexible office in Salt Lake City is a similar story to other markets. “The traditional office transaction is at least five years, and if you are doing a build-to-suit-type of development, it could be 10- to 15-years. For a lot of companies, that is a long time to lock into real estate,” Lloyd Allen, managing director at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. “If it is your third largest cost behind compensation for your employees and product development, locking in for that long is a challenge. Particularly with technology start-ups and all kinds of start-ups, the idea of a flexible, shared office space is getting a lot of attention. Some providers are doing enterprise models, where companies can move into a longer-term space when they move to the next level.”