The Tiniest Office Spaces
Elizabeth Sanders

GRAND RAPIDS — From entrepreneurs who are tired of being presented with a “honey-do” list while working at home to corporations that are downsizing due to budget constraints, Regus business centers aim to meet business needs through flexibility.

“We like to think we’re being the one-stop shopping, if you will, for any business person that might have a need: We have something to situate that need,” said Jennifer Gilbert, Regus regional vice president for the central region.

Regus has 950 locations throughout the world, including one that opened in Grand Rapids in December, and all are available to Regus clients. The business center at 250 Monroe Ave. NW has 55 offices and is at 12 percent capacity.

Clients have choices, from leasing a virtual office with options to use the space on an hourly, daily or weekly basis, to a more permanent solution of a monthly or yearly lease.

“The value that we provide our customers allows them total flexibility — and that is the key to our industry and to our business,” Gilbert said. “People can literally rent meeting rooms and offices by the hour, day, week, month … Flexibility is the key word for our industry.”

Gilbert said clients have use of business centers in 400 cities worldwide, any time there is a need.

“A client in Grand Rapids, they have the opportunity, if they travel at all in their business, to conduct business in our environment anywhere in the world,” she said. “Globally, there are not a lot of other people that have the ability to provide that amount of value in the industry.”

Regus has grown by 200 office locations in the last year, with a need coming from larger corporations that want to have a business-friendly location for employees who may work from home, Gilbert said.

Other business centers have also been cropping up in the area. The AMG Business Center in Muskegon has been open since May and is at 82 percent occupancy, said Jeff Zaloga, sales director for AMG.

From single office spaces to suites of 2,000 to 2,500 square feet, Zaloga said the center fills a niche in Muskegon, one that was lacking for new businesses that needed space to get started along with the possibility for growth.

“We consider ourselves to be a professional incubator,” he said, citing an insurance company that started with one person and has already expanded to three people, going from 130 square feet to 700 square feet.

“There are just not a lot of developers that do what we do,” he said. “By filling the niche, I think we kind of defy the odds and defy the local economy.”

AMG also offers a virtual office with a phone number, address and temporary office services for those who are out of the area or not in need of a permanent office. Zaloga said this trend has yet to catch on, but with more education and awareness, people should be more interested in the product.

“Most of the challenge is getting people to be aware of what we offer,” he said.

Sandy Hall Tiffany, general manager of the Grand Rapids Regus business center, said though the name Regus is well-known as a business center throughout the world, especially in larger markets and in Europe, getting the name recognition in Grand Rapids is a challenge.

In other markets, Regus might have as many as 100 offices with 200 to 300 virtual office clients, but in Grand Rapids, the firm is building slowly at 15 virtual clients, which Tiffany said is typical for the market size.      BJX