Coworking Company Expands in Scripps Ranch

Venture X, a coworking company based in West Palm Beach, Florida, has opened its first California offices in Scripps Ranch, owned by John Lee, a former bond trader who got frustrated with the market and wanted to go into business himself.

Lee has leased most of the second floor of an office building at 10089 Willow Creek Road and spent about $2 million to get the coworking operation, which had a soft opening in April and had an official opening in mid-July, up and running.

“It’s a major career pivot for me. I’ve been in finance for 21 years. After COVID hit, I decided to use the period to transition out of finance,” Lee said.

Having gone through several up-and-down cycles in the economy, “I wanted to get into an industry that I thought had a lot of growth ahead of us,” he added. “I want to look for something that was going to grow regardless of what the economy was doing.”

He opted for coworking, figuring that many people had become accustomed to working remotely, but tired of working from home and wanted an alternative. Coworking allows individuals and companies to rent fully furnished, temporary office space by the day or month in a shared location.

According to the online research firm Zippia, there were 6,200 coworking spaces in the U.S. in 2022 with nearly 1.1 million people using coworking spaces.

Lee said that he decided on Scripps Ranch as a location after scouting about a dozen prospects.

“Downtown was not going to be ideal for two reasons – there already are a lot of (coworking) spaces downtown and, two, the popularity of these spaces was growing faster in suburban residential areas,” Lee said. “The ones that are doing the best are located near where people live, and they don’t have to drive far.”

Lee said he also looked at coastal sites, but like downtown, they already had many coworking options.

“We felt like the San Diego inland area was a little bit under served. There’s a lot of coworking spaces along the coast. Along the (Interstate) 5 corridor, there were very few,” Lee said. “We’re here to serve Scripps Ranch. That doesn’t mean we’re exclusive to Scripps Ranch. It could be a location that’s ideal for someone who lives in Temecula and comes down to San Diego a couple of times a week to meet with clients.”

More than Workspaces

Although Venture X is barely past its official opening, Lee said that he expects to have an occupancy rate of about 25% in August with a goal of hitting 80% to 90% within 18 months.

“It’s been a long journey,” Lee said. “It’s been a long time between scouting for the right location, getting the lease agreement ironed out, then going through the permitting process, which takes a long period of time.”

In all, Lee figures the process took about two years.

Lee said that he modeled the Scripps Ranch operation to have more of a hospitality feel with an emphasis on socializing.

“What’s happening is, these coworking spaces are becoming more than workspaces,” Lee said.

Monthly membership fees run from $225 for one person to $8,000 for a 15-person office. Day passes are available for $30.

A good portion of the Scripps Ranch site – about 2,000 square feet – is a large open lounge with soft seating, leather sofas, swivel chairs and custom-made dining tables.

There also are two outdoor terraces of about 350 square feet each, two board rooms, a 25-person training room that doubles as a large board room, private offices ranging from 50 square feet to 450 square feet, and sound-proof phone pods imported from Turkey.

So far, Lee said he’s been getting inquiries from small companies that are losing their leases in buildings that are being renovated to accommodate life science labs, and from companies that are downsizing or shifting to hybrid models where employees work remotely during part of the week.

“We’ve got a lot of inquiries about meeting rooms, because they’ve given up the office they had,” Lee said. “The fact that people are giving up their traditional leases and downsizing will bode well moving forward. I think these spaces are going to become more and more popular.”

Venture X

Founded: 2012
Headquarters:  West Palm Beach, Florida
CEO:  Ray Titus
President:  Jason Anderson
Business: Co-working space
Website:  https://venturex.com/
Contact: 619-789-6233
Notable:  Venture X is  part of  Coworks​™, a privately held affiliated co-working franchise network, associated with  United Franchise  Group​™.