The office sector has been the most affected during the pandemic and still shows no signs of recovery, on the contrary. During the first quarter of the year, in Mexico City, the demand for offices in the capital contracted 50% and the vacancy rate grew by 560 square meters in all corridors.
Around decided to go against the tide and start its business in the sector at the end of 2020. It is an "Airbnb" of offices, in which companies that have space in their corporate building - called idle - put it to disposition of other businesses.
“It is not a sublease, because of how the platform is structured. A service provision contract is signed, the company that has a main lease with the space is actually providing a service to another company so that it can use the extra space it has with all services included ”, explains Gerardo Vallarta , co-founder of the company.
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The idea arose before the pandemic and in early 2020 it was launched, but with the arrival of COVID-19 the plans were stopped. In November of last year, business resumed.
The start was slow, but in March "it exploded," said the manager. They managed to publish 260 spaces in Mexico City on their platform and rent 30, with a greater presence in Roma Condesa, Reforma, Centro, Polanco and Del Valle with Insurgentes Sur, where 95% of their clients are.
For Gerardo Vallarta, the business came at the right time when offices are undergoing the transformation of teleworking and offices have more and more space available.
The context pushed Around to expand and as of May they began operations in Guadalajara, a strong corporate market that is also undergoing transformation. In this city they have 50 spaces in less than a month, they hope to soon reach 100. By 2022, they plan to enter Monterrey, Querétaro and Puebla.
Do you want to know more about the behavior of the office sector in the main markets in the country? Enter our Markets section and find out inventory, construction, vacancy and absorption figures.
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