Downtown Works, a coworking company, is expanding its Little Italy location by 40%, adding 24 private and one and two-person furnished offices.
Managing Partner
Downtown Works
Owner Wolf Bielas and Operations Manager David Adato said that demand for co-working space is so strong in San Diego County that they hope to open more locations.
“Remote work policies embracing today’s hybrid office trend are driving interest in coworking like never before,” Adato said.
Bielas said he’s hoping to expand Downtown Works beyond San Diego County and California.
In addition to the company’s home base in Little Italy, Downtown Works has coworking operations in Carlsbad and Pacific Beach. The Pacific Beach Downtown Works opened earlier this year at 4438 Ingraham St.
Operations Manager
Downtown Works
The company in January increased its Carlsbad coworking offices at 2011 Palomar Airport Road from about 9,000 square feet to about 10,800 square feet.
“We had to expand pretty fast,” Bielas said.
In a shift that Bielas attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, “a lot of people moved from the urban locations to the suburban locations.”
Off the Charts
In the company’s latest expansion, Downtown Works has taken up an entire floor of a building that Bielas’ company, Performance Wealth Investments, owns at 550 West B St.
“If I could convert all of my buildings into coworking, I would do it tomorrow,” Bielas said.
The Little Italy expansion included adding individual offices centered around a common kitchen.
“People when they say coworking they think tables and a whole bunch of people at the tables,” Bielas said.
There is still some of that, and Bielas said part of the downtown setup includes dedicated desks with file cabinets that members can reserve, but the demand has been highest for individual office and conference rooms.
“One of the things we have seen is the demand for meeting space is off the charts,” Bielas said.
While the traditional office market has been shaky since the pandemic started, Bielas said he can fill coworking spaces nearly as fast as he can open them.
“The demand is there,” Bielas said.
Downtown Works
Founded: 2016
Managing Partner: Wolf Bielas
Co-founders: Michel Cohen, Alex Zyman, Edward Adato and Dan Schwarzblat
Headquarters: Little Italy
Business: Flex office and coworking company
Employees: 10
Website: www.downtownworks.com
Contact: info@downtownworks.com; 888-535-9675
Social Impact: Downtown Works supports San Diego Startup Week, San Diego AMA, Startup San Diego, KPBS, Discover Pacific Beach, Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce, and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
Notable: Downtown Works uses local designers and vendors in all of its coworking locations.
