The conventional image of coworking expansion involves planting flags in as many cities as possible. For operators managing multiple flexible workspace locations across Florida, Texas, and Georgia, the math points in a different direction: density within a market matters more than breadth across markets.
Kevin Priddy leads Priddy Spaces, a holding company operating 12 coworking locations under the Venture X and Office Evolution brands, with six or seven more in construction. He has built his portfolio around clustering. “Don’t go into a territory with one location,” he says. “When you have one location on an island that’s far from all your other locations, you have new challenges.”
A single location in a distant market creates staffing vulnerabilities. If two employees call in sick or one is on vacation, coverage breaks down. With four, five, or six locations in a metro area, staff can rotate between sites. Priddy says this approach produces economies of scale in staffing that a scattered footprint cannot.
Priddy applies specific demographic filters to every potential location. Within a five-mile radius, he looks for a population of at least 60,000, household incomes at 150% or higher of the area average, over 50% college degree attainment, and over 50% homeownership. Those filters, he says, correspond to the customer base that fills flex space: mid-level executives working remotely and entrepreneurs typically in their mid-30s to early 50s who need office presence but are not ready for a traditional lease.
Buildings fall into two categories that both perform well. The first is mixed-use locations with walkable restaurants, shops, and residential nearby. The second is standalone buildings with free parking, easy highway access, and convenient traffic flow. In both cases, Priddy targets Class A buildings.
He has built a model using ChatGPT that incorporates these demographic benchmarks, data from successful locations, customer mix patterns, and competitive analysis. An address plugged into the system generates a 15-page market report. “The work that would have taken five or six days in the past can be done in 20 seconds,” he says, though the tool requires additional manual analysis before he acts on the results.
Dallas-Fort Worth, where Priddy recently acquired four locations from an independent building owner exiting the coworking business, illustrates a pattern he looks for. The metro checks two boxes: population growth and extensive urban sprawl. Sprawl allows clusters of locations spaced 15 to 30 minutes apart surrounding a metropolitan hub. “People want to work close to where they live,” Priddy says. “They don’t want to travel an hour into the city.”
That proximity principle also shapes how Priddy reads the return-to-office trend. He describes it not as a return to the office but a return to an office, one closer to where employees actually live. Large corporations are recognizing that maintaining massive headquarters and long-term leases represents corporate debt that may not be necessary. Instead, they can maintain a smaller headquarters and place employees in flexible locations with shorter commitments. Priddy says his locations have seen an uptick in enterprise clients needing space for eight or ten employees in a local market rather than signing long-term leases on dedicated offices.
At the same time, the growth in entrepreneurship is adding demand from the other end. Priddy says AI is creating more opportunities to start and scale businesses than he has seen before. Many entrepreneurs start at home, then reach a point where they need a physical office, either to separate work from home life or to house a small team.
Priddy Spaces has completed seven acquisitions. The first thing Priddy’s team evaluates in any acquired space is IT infrastructure, which he calls the most common deficiency. One recent South Florida acquisition had a Wi-Fi system pieced together from home networking equipment. “One of the key functions of our business is providing high-speed, reliable Internet,” he says. “If you don’t have that, you don’t have an office.”
Beyond technology, conversions involve branding changes, personnel evaluation, billing system upgrades, and sometimes removing members with delinquent accounts. Priddy says accounts receivable problems are common in acquired locations, and his team enforces a firm collection policy rather than letting balances linger.
The full process takes roughly a year from acquisition to a location operating at the company’s standard. Priddy’s team follows a 30-60-90-day framework: the first month is spent learning – surveying members, understanding the existing experience – before implementing required changes in the second month and making cosmetic and system improvements through the sixth month. Opening a brand-new location from scratch is actually easier, Priddy says, because “you’re not changing bad ways.”
The biggest shift in Priddy’s approach over the past year has been selectivity. Twelve months ago, he dug into every opportunity that surfaced. Now he turns away deals that do not meet every criterion. “I don’t want to deviate from the way we operate,” he says. “The size, location, the demographics, I just won’t deviate from that.”
That discipline came from experience across seven acquisitions. “Each one of them you learn something different,” Priddy says. “If your gut said maybe there’s some concerns here, or it won’t have the same upside, you should really listen to your gut.”
His current focus remains on Sun Belt markets with population growth and lower tax environments. He has no interest in expanding into the Northeast or cold-weather states. Priddy says broader economic factors – inflation, fuel prices, interest rates – always factor into growth planning, but nothing on the horizon concerns him enough to slow down.
Operating across South Florida, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Atlanta has given Priddy a view into how local economies shape tenant composition. South Florida locations attract a concentration of financial firms; Priddy says his team has signed roughly a dozen hedge funds or private equity funds across those locations in the past year. Dallas-Fort Worth skews toward industries tied to that region’s economy, including oil and media production. Atlanta is newer for the company and still developing its tenant base.
The variation reinforces the clustering strategy. Each market has its own demand profile, and understanding that profile takes time and proximity, another reason a single distant outpost creates more problems than it solves.
About the Expert: Kevin Priddy leads Priddy Spaces, a holding company operating coworking locations under the Venture X and Office Evolution brands across Florida, Texas, and Georgia.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
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