Coworking Space Coming to Houston’s Midtown Arts District

By Timea Papp

Rendering of 1512 Center St.

REth!nk has secured $6 million in construction financing from iBorrow for the development of a two-story office building in Houston. The property will operate as a coworking facility in the city’s Midtown Arts District, with completion scheduled for spring 2019.

Located at 1512 Center St. N., the property is a former mattress factory that used to house Master Mattress Works. According to the Harris County assessor, the property was built in phases, in 1927 and 1976. REth!nk, a coworking community created for real estate professionals, acquired the nearly 42,000-square-foot industrial facility in July, public records show.

“We see two striking opportunities. One is to push beyond the traditional coworking lease arbitrage model and create value by owning and renovating well-located but underutilized properties, and the other is to take a niche, industry approach to building our community in order to help accelerate the growth of our members’ businesses,” Ken Cope, founder & president of REth!nk, said in prepared remarks.

Curating to professionals

Plans include converting the building into REth!nk’s flagship location that will feature 50 open coworking spaces, 20 dedicated desks, 134 private offices and 40 parking spaces. In addition, the company intends to open a second location in Denver’s RiNo Arts District, also in 2019. The spaces will curate to asset owners, investors, developers, architects, designers, engineers, general contractors, lawyers, bankers and brokers.

“With the growing trend toward open, coworking office spaces in the workplace, especially among smaller companies that prefer to offer a more collaborative working environment, our structured loan will allow the borrower to begin an extensive renovation to convert the property into a highly sought-after space,” iBorrow CEO Brian Good explained. “Additionally, by the time the construction is complete, the loan will be reduced to 53.57 percent of the property’s projected value, providing a greater equity cushion over the life of the loan.”

Image courtesy of iBorrow