For many organizations, working at Gather is a far superior option to signing a lease for commercial space. Here, we'll break down the five most important reasons:
1. CostGather is almost always less costly than comparable Class A office space. Gather members save on monthly expenses and capital costs.
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- Monthly Expenses – At Gather, once you include all occupancy costs, monthly expenses are almost always less than in similar commercial space - sometimes over 50% less. If you are signing a five year commercial lease, how much space will you need in the fifth year? Most people don’t know, but they expect they will grow. Therefore, they’ll take more space than they need now to accommodate future growth. At Gather, you only pay for what you need. You can add more space whenever you like.
In a commercial space, if you want a conference room, a break room/kitchen, or a reception area, the space will sit empty most of the time. At Gather those amenities are shared, so you are only paying for a small portion of the cost.
Our Community Managers will take care of work your employees would have to do in commercial space. Tasks like greeting guests, making coffee (and fruit infused water), doing the dishes and putting them away, ordering supplies for printers, copiers, and restrooms, assisting with technical issues (e.g., printing or audio visual problems), and scheduling building and equipment maintenance are our job, not yours. This saves your company time and money.
- Monthly Expenses – At Gather, once you include all occupancy costs, monthly expenses are almost always less than in similar commercial space - sometimes over 50% less. If you are signing a five year commercial lease, how much space will you need in the fifth year? Most people don’t know, but they expect they will grow. Therefore, they’ll take more space than they need now to accommodate future growth. At Gather, you only pay for what you need. You can add more space whenever you like.
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- Capital Costs – To optimize your use of commercial space, you will probably incur some buildout costs (e.g., creating offices and conference rooms, lighting, flooring, painting, etc.). Gather spends between $130 and $150 per square foot on buildout costs. You don’t have to spend anything. It’s already done.
In a commercial space, you will have to buy furniture. Gather space comes furnished (although, you may put your furniture in our offices, if you like). In commercial space you’ll have to install internet service, pay for copy machines and printers, and organize building security. Gather takes care of all of this for you.
- Capital Costs – To optimize your use of commercial space, you will probably incur some buildout costs (e.g., creating offices and conference rooms, lighting, flooring, painting, etc.). Gather spends between $130 and $150 per square foot on buildout costs. You don’t have to spend anything. It’s already done.
2. Flexibility
With commercial space, you will usually have to sign a long-term lease, most which require at least a three-year commitment, but can ask for as much as a ten-year commitment. The longest commitment for which Gather asks is one year, and month-to-month options are available. As mentioned, this gives you the flexibility to expand or contract as needed—something commercial space can’t offer.
Gather will also create specific plans tailored to your needs. Do you have employees that only need to work from the space a few days each month? We can accommodate that in a cost effective manner. Would your firm benefit from having its own private suite? Those options are available.
3. Attracting & Retaining Talent
Gather’s space is cool! People want to be a part of it. We offer amenities that employees love including showers, Podcast Rooms, Wellness Rooms for nursing mothers, and Phone Booths for private calls. All locations also have fresh brewed, locally roasted coffee all day, and locally brewed beer after 4pm.
Your employees will want to become a part of the Gather community. There are many opportunities for socializing at happy hours, organized lunches, networking events, and the favorite, cookie hour. Each Wednesday afternoon a local bakery provides freshly baked cookies for all Gather members to enjoy. Attracting and retaining employees is made easier by the Gather community.
With traditional commercial real estate, all employees will commute to the company office. Gather offers multiple locations in each region. Employees can work out of a location close to their home. They can also book conference rooms in any of our locations regardless of which location is their primary location. This added convenience further helps with attracting and retaining talent.
4. Reciprocity
Gather currently has six locations—
We will be opening another location in Midlothian at the end of 2020. When you are a Gather member, you have 24/7/365 access to all of our locations. You can attend events, sit in the coworking space, or reserve a conference room at any location you choose.With commercial space, you’ll typically only have one location. Gather’s reciprocity is like having multiple offices spread around the region.
5. Reduced Hassle
Setting your team up with commercial space is a massive job. It involves identifying the right real estate, negotiating a lease, designing the space, and managing the buildout. Operating the space, managing building maintenance and equipment repairs is an added hassle. Subletting to deal with too much space or figuring out how to cram more people into too little space is time consuming and draining. At the end of the lease, figuring out where to go next is stress producing. Gather relieves you of all these hassles.
Are you ready to learn more about what Gather has to offer? Check us out!