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of two-career couples with young children unable to go to school or daycare.
“They’re all at home,” he said. “It’s impossible to get work done in that environment.”
People who live alone have their own challenges with remote work, he added.
“They’re losing their minds,” Dell’Aquila said. “They have no interaction.”
And the innovative ways of doing business that became widespread during the pandemic? Not so exciting anymore. “Zoom fatigue is a thing,” Donohue said.
In the new COVID reality, co-working companies say they’ve taken extra precautions to keep workers safe
— such as improving the ventilation systems, adding more hand-sanitizing stations, ramping up the cleaning schedule and creating more space for workers.
“It made us take a closer look at some of the things we were doing,” Donohue said, noting that Colab spaced out desks and added more dividers. In addition, there’s an effort to reduce touch points: Light switches are motion-sensitive and, in the kitchen, food is individually wrapped.
In addition, Donohue said, “We increased the number of private offices, knowing that people might feel more comfortable with four walls.”
At Kearny Point, a mixed-use business campus in Kearny, the open co- working space, totaling about 10,000 square feet, was rented out to a single user — no more desks in a common space to rent by the day. Instead, the owner, Hugo
Neu, found
clients more
interested
in individual
offices,
according to
Steve Nislick,
chief financial
officer. The
landlord now has about 250,000 square feet and is about 85 percent leased, he said.
“A good portion of our absorption has been from existing tenants expanding,” Nislick said.
At Desk, a new co-working space at 37 Easton Ave. in New Brunswick, most of the 11,000 square feet
is devoted to private offices,
each with space for one to eight workers, according to founders Alex Burkhead and Gerrit Curran.
“When you come into work, you can go into an office and be self- contained,” Curran said. They’re watching Delta and say they will be ready to add more safety measures — such as additional barriers — if necessary.
The two, who are working in
partnership with Saxum Real Estate, had originally
Avenue in Montclair in early 2022.
Over the longer term, co-working companies say the disruptions created by COVID may increase demand for their product. Employees who suddenly didn’t have to go to offices found they were happy to forgo their commutes and gain an extra hour or two every day for themselves. And many employers found that workers were just as productive.
As a result, many observers predict that, as COVID recedes, large employers may allow employees
Gerrit Curran
hoped to open their New Brunswick location in early 2020, but were delayed when the pandemic hit. Now, they feel there’s
enough interest to move forward.
“The demand has proven to be 100 percent there,” Curran said. They plan to open a second space in an old bank building on Bloomfield
PROPERTY THAT PERFORMS
Rockefeller Group is dedicated to excellence in the built environment. Over the past five years, our development team and capital partners have completed more than 5 million square feet of industrial and logistics property throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
With more than 30 years of industrial development experience, our projects connect products with customers as efficiently as possible, delivering ease-of-access from major ports and inland distribution hubs to the nation’s largest population centers.
10 Edison I Edison, NJ Completion and sale: 2020
NJ/PA DEVELOPMENT
Mark Shearer | 973 448 3594 mshearer@rockefellergroup.com
Steve Nislick