Regional flexible-space provider TailoredSpace plans to nearly double its location count with up to eight California openings slated for 2024, at a time when big national firms like WeWork are pulling back on space in the face of lower office demand.

Brea, California-based TailoredSpace is looking to grow its 10-site footprint to at least 18 by year’s end, deploying a suburban strategy in which it signs service agreements with office landlords. The privately held company, started in 2019, said those agreements have so far provided building owners “a significant premium” above market lease rates, though it did does not disclose specific numbers.

TailoredSpace co-founder Drew Sanden said the company was created to focus on suburban office markets that historically have had an undersupply of coworking spaces, with about 80% of its customers now residing within a five-mile radius of its locations.

“COVID-19 further exacerbated this shortage by shifting demand from urban centers to the suburbs,” Sanden told CoStar News in an email. “The rapid shift to remote and hybrid work helped companies become more comfortable with a decentralized workforce and the employees got accustomed to a more flexible work schedule and reduced commutes.”

The expansion by TailoredSpace and other regional competitors comes as big-city office attendance nationwide has consistently averaged around 50% of pre-pandemic levels for the past year, according to security technology firm Kastle Systems.

The pandemic and increased prevalence of hybrid work schedules forced a significant pullback in expansion by global cowork firms, especially in large cities, exemplified by industry giant WeWork’s move to exit leases worldwide and cut other costs after a bankruptcy filing.

A February 2023 report by industry data firm Coworking Café estimated that about 45% of coworking spaces in the United States are now located in suburbs, and other analysts expect future industry growth to come primarily from suburban and rural areas.

The report said U.S. suburbs experienced a growth spurt in coworking starting in 2020. That's when the pandemic began keeping workers away from offices in urban job centers including Los Angeles with about 360 locations and Washington, D.C., with about 160, the two regions with the most suburban cowork locations as of February.

The company’s ranking of U.S. suburbs with the highest number of cowork locations was topped by two Orange County cities that are considered suburbs of Los Angeles — Irvine with 91 and Newport Beach with 25. The D.C. suburb of Arlington, Virginia, also had 25 as of February.

Other smaller firms have recently raised their shared-space profile by focusing outside of big cities, including Denver-based Work Simple, which targets ownership of “zombie” office buildings in secondary markets.

TailoredSpace’s latest opening took place at 27131 Calle Arroyo in the southern Orange County city of San Juan Capistrano, where it leased 14,000 square feet, which is typical for its cowork locations.

The company’s operations include three existing locations of a lower-cost, no-frills sister brand called SimplerSpace, with a reduced level of amenities and services targeting landlords looking to more quickly fill large vacancies.

Sanden said TailoredSpace’s lease agreements, spanning 10 years or more, help landlords minimize re-tenanting costs, including tenant improvements and broker commissions.

He said they have also helped building owners quickly back-fill large vacancies of 10,000 square feet and higher, which otherwise can take more than 24 months to fill in many suburban regions in the current climate.

Membership-based customer prices vary by location and services that are selected. At TailoredSpace’s flagship Brea location in Orange County, monthly on-site desk and office support prices range from about $275 to $650, with additional costs for items like conference and event space, according to the TailoredSpace website.

The company said it opened three new campuses during 2023, bringing its total to 10 locations serving more than 600 members across Southern California, primarily in industries such as real estate, financial and legal services.

Up to eight openings are planned for 2024, with targeted cities including Laguna Niguel in Orange County and Santa Clarita in Los Angeles County.

“We’re looking at suburban locations throughout the state so that we can provide space that is still close to our members’ homes and they can better balance their work and home life,” Sanden said.