Brookfield’s Convene descends on London

Convene, the US meeting space and flexible workspace provider backed by Brookfield Property Partners, has instructed agents to find its first London locations as it embarks on a global expansion drive. CBRE has been appointed to find five or six initial centres of between 40,000 sq ft and 60,000 sq ft. The West End, Docklands, City, City fringe, South Bank and Midtown submarkets are all being considered. Founded in 2009, Convene provides meetings and events spaces, flexible workspaces and hospitality services such as room-service catering, concierge services and fitness classes in office buildings. The company aims to “collaborate with landlords to increase asset values by improving the tenant experience”. Convene has locations in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC, with plans to expand globally. London is top of the list and it is understood other financial centres such as Hong Kong and Berlin are likely to follow. A London entry would represent new competition to existing flexible workspace providers like WeWork and The Office Group, but its meetings and events space-led model will also be a challenge to London’s hotels conference space business. In an EG interview at New York Real Estate Tech Week last October, Convene co-founder and chief executive Ryan Simonetti said: “Convene is hospitality combined with the traditional office building, but it offers something that moves away from the tenant to focus on the individual, because these are the people who can now choose how, when and where they work. “Co-working is a piece of that, but it’s the headline. The trend line is what is offered across the board from a design and tech perspective to food and beverage offers and events spaces.” Convene is in discussions with Brookfield Property Partners’ UK business about the potential to locate some of its centres in Brookfield office properties. However, other landlords will also be considered. The company is expected to grow its London foothold quickly to up to 10 centres after the initial five locations are secured. Convene announced its intention in November to raise a further $150m (£108m) in venture funding to launch a property investment fund, building on the $119.2m it had already raised in a series of funding rounds from investors including Brookfield, Durst Organization, Conversion Venture Capital, ArrowMark Partners and Elysium Capital Management. Ric Clark, senior managing partner of Brookfield Property Partners, said in an EG interview last year that the investor’s commitment to Convene was a response to its recognition of occupier demand for flexible and project-based workspace. “[Convene] provides these great spaces that provide meeting centres,” he said. “Those landlords that are doing these kinds of solutions for tenants will likely be more successful and that will be proven through operating performance over time.” Brookfield Asset Management, a separate division of the Canadian private equity giant, made two rejected offers in partnership with Onex Corporation for serviced office group IWG earlier this year in a demonstration of investor confidence in the serviced office model. Michael Burke, vice-president of real estate and development at Convene, said: “We are excited to grow Convene’s footprint internationally and serve our clients around the world. We have spent a lot of time identifying key markets and evaluating potential partners for our global expansion, and London is at the top of that list.” COMMENT: Convene is carving out a niche As a rule of thumb, New York’s workspace is not known for being hugely innovative or future-proofed, writes Emily Wright. A lingering penchant for pokey cubicles and traditional specs means the city it is often dismissed as being outdated. But that is not to say the Big Apple is devoid of disruptors – and Convene is leading the charge. I saw this first hand in October last year when I spent the day at the group’s Midtown space, one of nine in the city, for a proptech conference. A venue that can host and cater for hundreds of people in five different rooms with varying layouts and configurations one day, before snapping back to being a flexible work space the next, it has carved a niche in the hospitality-meets-flexible workspace concept. The trick is that the space has been set up in such a way that neither the flexible office or events elements feel like an add-on. It works just as well for either in their own right, or as a mixture of the two. The flexible workspace element is the more standard tried-and-tested side of the equation to pull off, so what makes Convene’s offer so impressive is that, as an events space, it has the square footage to accommodate hundreds of people comfortably with all the right facilities including a fully staffed coat room and a tech helpdesk. And it would be a travesty not to mention the free food. Yes, it’s increasingly common these days and is evolving into an expectation. But there is something about the set-up here from the coffee/snack bar combination to the fully stocked fridge of soft drinks and two water taps (one still, one fizzy) that makes you feel just on the right side of the increasingly fine line between serviced office and hotel. As Convene’s chief executive and co-founder Ryan Simonetti puts it: “We have an exceptionally good snack game here, that’s for sure.” • To send feedback, e-mail Louisa.Clarence-Smith@estatesgazette.com or tweet @LouisaClarence or @estatesgazette