The new Venture X location in San Antonio is on two floors of a building at 7550 W. Interstate 10 on the Northwest Side.
Coworking space company Venture X is expanding its presence in San Antonio with a Northwest Side location as demand for flexible office space increases amid shifts in workers’ preferences heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Franchise owner Jim Garrett is leasing about 35,000 square feet on two floors of an office building at 7550 W. Interstate 10.
The space houses 147 offices and 409 desks, the most among Venture X locations in San Antonio, according to the company.
It includes meeting rooms, a mail and print center, security systems, high-speed internet, parking, and access to a gym and cafe.
Garrett, a San Antonio native, is contemplating another four or five locations in San Antonio. He also has his sights set on expanding in Houston, San Marcos, Waco and Austin.
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In the wake of the pandemic, more employees are working remotely or on hybrid schedules. They want to work close to their homes and avoid lengthy commutes, Garrett said.
Business owners are also interested in flexible lease terms as their spacing needs fluctuate.
“People started finding that there were better ways to go to work than the traditional office, and that’s a genie that’s not going back in the bottle any time soon,” Garrett said.
When seeking a location for his Venture X franchise, Garrett wanted new, highend offices with 30,000 to 40,000 square feet of space. The I-10 and Loop 410 intersection and the amenities and expansive views at the building he chose were attractive, he said.
After extensive renovations, he started selling memberships in the last few weeks. Updates to one floor are being finished.
A private office membership starts at $600 a month, a dedicated desk at $400 a month, a shared desk at $175 a month and a virtual office at $79 a day, according to Venture X’s website. There’s also a community option that starts at $40 a day and an option for access to conference rooms that starts at $50 a day.
Some San Antonio coworking spaces closed during the pandemic as members struggled to keep their businesses afloat.
The Annex coworking space on De Zavala Road and the CoWork Factory in New Braunfels closed. Annex owner Carrie Hill shifted that business to an online community.
“Many of my members lost all of their income because their businesses were shut down as well, so they couldn’t continue paying membership, and so no one was coming,” Hill told the Express-News in early 2021. “I couldn’t keep paying rent and get more and more in debt, so I just had to shut it down.”
Since then, however, other coworking spaces have opened in a bid to capitalize on workplace shifts. At Pearl, a 10,416-square-foot space in the Full Goods Building — called Pearl Cowork — includes meeting rooms, phone booths, private offices and a kitchen.
Garrett said he hopes his investments in technology infrastructure and a modern space will help make his Venture X location stand out.
Venture X was founded in 2012 with a location on Naples, Fla., and started franchising in 2016 as part of United Franchise Group, according to its website.
There are two other Venture X locations in San Antonio: near Phil Hardberger Park and in Stone Oak.
The former is at 80 percent capacity for memberships, and the latter is full with a waiting list, a spokesperson said. Garrett does not own either location.
Last year, United Franchise Group added Office Evolution, a coworking franchiser, which also has locations in San Antonio.
Garrett attended John Jay High School and Trinity University.
He was a U.S. naval aviator and later worked in intelligence, information technology consulting and advertising.
His career also included stints at the North American Road Racing Association and as a professional race car driver.
Coworking interested him because he wanted to work with businesses and “be on the leading edge of a trend,” he said.
