Commercial real estate has traditionally been divided into some pretty tidy categories. Need desks, computers, and conference rooms? Rent an office. Need racks of inventory and loading space? Find a warehouse. Need customers walking through the door? Look for retail space. Nice and simple—until your business doesn’t fit neatly into any of those categories. That’s where flex space enters the picture.
At Box Office Warehouse Suites, we think flex space fills what has long been a missing middle in commercial real estate. It’s the space between the conventional office and the sprawling warehouse, designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses that need a little bit of everything without paying for a whole lot of something they don’t need.
Call us at 817-439-3224 and let’s discuss how flex space can work for you.
Small Businesses Rarely Fit Into Neat Categories
Consider how many small businesses operate today.
An online retailer may need a desk for handling orders, shelving for inventory, an area for packaging, and room to receive deliveries. A contractor may need office space for estimates and paperwork along with secure storage for tools and materials. A designer might need a computer workstation, a photography area, and space to assemble products.
Is that an office business? A warehouse business? A studio?
Yes.
That’s the point.
Modern small businesses increasingly blur the traditional lines, yet much of commercial property for rent was designed around those old definitions. Flex space gives entrepreneurs the freedom to create a workplace around the business rather than forcing the business to adapt to the building.
Too Big, Too Small, or Just Wrong
Finding commercial space can sometimes feel like shopping for shoes when the store only carries sizes five and fifteen.
Traditional office space may look professional, but try storing several pallets of merchandise next to the receptionist.
A warehouse for rent offers plenty of room, but a small business may not need thousands upon thousands of square feet—not to mention the expense that comes with it.
Retail space can provide visibility, but why pay retail rates if walk-in traffic isn’t central to your business?
That leaves many entrepreneurs searching for something in between.
That’s the sweet spot for flex space.
Rather than paying for square footage simply because it comes with a particular type of commercial property, a business owner can look for a smaller, versatile space that serves several purposes.
Every Square Foot Should Have a Job
For a small business, wasted space means wasted money.
That giant conference room that gets used twice a month? You’re still paying rent on it.
The enormous warehouse aisle that’s mostly empty? You’re paying for that, too.
Flex space encourages business owners to think differently. Instead of asking, “How much space can we get?” the better question may be, “How much space can we actually use?”
A relatively compact space might become:
- an small office in the morning;
- a product photography studio in the afternoon;
- a packing and shipping station during busy periods;
- inventory storage year-round;
- a meeting place for employees or clients;
- a workshop for creating or assembling products.
The goal isn’t necessarily to have more square footage. It’s to make the square footage you have work harder.
Flex Space Can Grow With an Idea
Every small business starts somewhere.
Sometimes it’s a kitchen table. Sometimes it’s a garage filled with tools. Sometimes it’s a spare bedroom slowly disappearing beneath boxes of inventory.
Those places serve their purpose, but eventually a successful business begins pushing against the walls.
That’s an exciting problem to have.
It’s also a point where entrepreneurs can make an expensive mistake by jumping from “too small” directly to “way too big.”
Flex space can provide an intermediate step.
It gives a growing business room to become more organized and professional without necessarily taking on the overhead associated with a large traditional commercial property.
That can be especially valuable when the future is uncertain. A business may grow rapidly, change direction, add products, reduce inventory, hire employees, or discover an entirely new revenue stream.
The space surrounding that business needs to keep up.
There’s Also Something to Be Said for Personality
We believe commercial real estate can be practical without being boring.
In fact, sometimes an unusual business deserves an unusual home.
That’s certainly part of the philosophy behind Box Office Warehouse Suites. Our suites are created from repurposed shipping containers, giving entrepreneurs something very different from the traditional beige office park.
There’s an industrial character to them. There’s creativity built right into the walls. And perhaps most importantly, there’s a sense that these spaces were made for people who are building something of their own.
For entrepreneurs, makers, consultants, online sellers, artists, designers, service businesses, and other small operations, that atmosphere can matter.
Your workplace becomes part of your business story.
The Missing Middle May Be Exactly What You Need
Not every entrepreneur dreams of occupying a downtown office tower. And not every growing company needs a 20,000-square-foot warehouse.
Sometimes you simply need a place to work, store, create, organize, meet, plan, and grow.
That’s the beauty of flex space.
It occupies that wonderfully useful middle ground where commercial real estate becomes less about labels and more about possibilities.
At Box Office Warehouse Suites in the Fort Worth Design District, we’ve taken that idea one step further with unique 320-square-foot business spaces created from repurposed shipping containers. Located in Fort Worth’s growing Alliance area and locally owned and operated by RDS Real Estate, Box Office Warehouse Suites offers entrepreneurs an affordable, creative alternative to conventional commercial space.
Because your business doesn’t have to fit into somebody else’s box.
Although, as it turns out, a really cool shipping container box might fit just fine.
