From left, Walt Koelbel, Mark Hemmeter and Dean Koelbel. Hemmeter and Koelbel & Co. are teaming up for a new coworking business called Work Simple. (Courtesy of Work Simple)
This coworking business model is as straight forward as it gets.
“We’re going after a client that just wants to put their head down and work. I don’t need golf simulators, I don’t need foosball tables … I just need a quiet place to work that’s close to my home, just leave me alone,” said Mark Hemmeter, CEO of new coworking startup Work Simple.
Hemmeter, who sold a coworking firm of his own two years ago, is joining forces in a partnership with Koelbel & Co. on the new venture. The duo started the company last year, and last week, closed on its first real estate purchase at 9191 Sheridan Blvd. in Westminster.
The three-story, 40,000-square-foot office building that’s 60 percent vacant sold for $4.1 million, or $102.50 a foot. The selling entity, Sheridan Commercial Inc., purchased it for $2.6 million in 1994, public records show. That amounts to nearly $5.6 million in 2024 dollars, taking into account inflation.
The first phase of work will involve transforming 14,000 square feet of vacant space into small, 100-square-foot offices that will be move-in ready, along with three larger, 1,500-square-foot spaces.
The business will also add conference rooms – including one in an old bank vault – and make improvements to the kitchen, lobby and common areas. No final figures on construction cost have been determined, but Hemmeter said it’s well over $100 a foot.
The real estate professional is in talks with the six existing tenants about converting to coworking users. If all of them choose that option, the building can be filled with upwards of 200 businesses, he added.
The 9191 Sheridan building. (Google Maps)
For determining where to buy future coworking locations, Hemmeter said he’s more focused on lifestyles and less on income, looking for places with high concentrations of white-collar workers with families who prefer working close to home.
“We find that our target market, they can’t work from home because they have customers they need to see, or they need privacy … you don’t want to go to someone’s home to meet with your State Farm rep, or a tax preparer,” Hemmeter said.
He’s exploring other Denver suburbs such as Lakewood and the southern part of the Denver Tech Center.
“One of the reasons we’re in Westminster is there’s no competition for five or six miles,” Hemmeter said.
The entrepreneur said he expects Work Simple to buy a handful of buildings in 2025. In a news release, he added that the goal is to get to fifty buildings within five years across the U.S.
“Workplace disruptions and difficult financial markets have led to a large influx of distressed Class B office properties in suburban markets, which many experts believe to be a deeply undervalued asset class,” the release reads.
Another element of the business will be its streamlining of the leasing process. Hemmeter said he got reports from real estate giant CoStar that showed half of America’s office leases being under 2,000 square feet.
“However, they’re still subjected to the old real estate model of 30-page leases and five-year terms … we believe there’s a huge opportunity to change the way small leases and tenants are handled in the United States,” he said.
At Work Simple, the standard is three-page leases with month-to-month terms that can be terminated on a 60 or 90 day notice. The spaces would be move-in ready.
“We’re just trying to reduce the friction to almost nothing,” Hemmeter said.
Hemmeter formerly ran Office Evolution, a coworking business he founded in 2003. Back then, the business model was much more about providing technology such as internet and phone call-answering services to tenants than it was about private office space.
Working as a quasi-receptionist for his clients, Hemmeter said his business used to answer more than 30,000 calls a month, but that Work Simple won’t offer these services.
“(I) was walking around construction sites when I was 4, so it’s in my blood, just like the Koelbels,” the 61-year-old said of his interest in real estate.
Hemmeter – a Hawaii native – grew up in a real estate family; his dad was a developer. He graduated from CU Boulder. Eventually, he became friends with the late Buz Koelbel through his real estate work, and pitched Work Simple to him a few years ago.
Buz approved, and the wheels started turning. Buz passed away last month at 72.
“I want to return the trust that Buz had in me. I want to make sure I pay that back to the family,” Hemmeter said.
From left, Walt Koelbel, Mark Hemmeter and Dean Koelbel. Hemmeter and Koelbel & Co. are teaming up for a new coworking business called Work Simple. (Courtesy of Work Simple)
This coworking business model is as straight forward as it gets.
“We’re going after a client that just wants to put their head down and work. I don’t need golf simulators, I don’t need foosball tables … I just need a quiet place to work that’s close to my home, just leave me alone,” said Mark Hemmeter, CEO of new coworking startup Work Simple.
Hemmeter, who sold a coworking firm of his own two years ago, is joining forces in a partnership with Koelbel & Co. on the new venture. The duo started the company last year, and last week, closed on its first real estate purchase at 9191 Sheridan Blvd. in Westminster.
The three-story, 40,000-square-foot office building that’s 60 percent vacant sold for $4.1 million, or $102.50 a foot. The selling entity, Sheridan Commercial Inc., purchased it for $2.6 million in 1994, public records show. That amounts to nearly $5.6 million in 2024 dollars, taking into account inflation.
The first phase of work will involve transforming 14,000 square feet of vacant space into small, 100-square-foot offices that will be move-in ready, along with three larger, 1,500-square-foot spaces.
The business will also add conference rooms – including one in an old bank vault – and make improvements to the kitchen, lobby and common areas. No final figures on construction cost have been determined, but Hemmeter said it’s well over $100 a foot.
The real estate professional is in talks with the six existing tenants about converting to coworking users. If all of them choose that option, the building can be filled with upwards of 200 businesses, he added.
The 9191 Sheridan building. (Google Maps)
For determining where to buy future coworking locations, Hemmeter said he’s more focused on lifestyles and less on income, looking for places with high concentrations of white-collar workers with families who prefer working close to home.
“We find that our target market, they can’t work from home because they have customers they need to see, or they need privacy … you don’t want to go to someone’s home to meet with your State Farm rep, or a tax preparer,” Hemmeter said.
He’s exploring other Denver suburbs such as Lakewood and the southern part of the Denver Tech Center.
“One of the reasons we’re in Westminster is there’s no competition for five or six miles,” Hemmeter said.
The entrepreneur said he expects Work Simple to buy a handful of buildings in 2025. In a news release, he added that the goal is to get to fifty buildings within five years across the U.S.
“Workplace disruptions and difficult financial markets have led to a large influx of distressed Class B office properties in suburban markets, which many experts believe to be a deeply undervalued asset class,” the release reads.
Another element of the business will be its streamlining of the leasing process. Hemmeter said he got reports from real estate giant CoStar that showed half of America’s office leases being under 2,000 square feet.
“However, they’re still subjected to the old real estate model of 30-page leases and five-year terms … we believe there’s a huge opportunity to change the way small leases and tenants are handled in the United States,” he said.
At Work Simple, the standard is three-page leases with month-to-month terms that can be terminated on a 60 or 90 day notice. The spaces would be move-in ready.
“We’re just trying to reduce the friction to almost nothing,” Hemmeter said.
Hemmeter formerly ran Office Evolution, a coworking business he founded in 2003. Back then, the business model was much more about providing technology such as internet and phone call-answering services to tenants than it was about private office space.
Working as a quasi-receptionist for his clients, Hemmeter said his business used to answer more than 30,000 calls a month, but that Work Simple won’t offer these services.
“(I) was walking around construction sites when I was 4, so it’s in my blood, just like the Koelbels,” the 61-year-old said of his interest in real estate.
Hemmeter – a Hawaii native – grew up in a real estate family; his dad was a developer. He graduated from CU Boulder. Eventually, he became friends with the late Buz Koelbel through his real estate work, and pitched Work Simple to him a few years ago.
Buz approved, and the wheels started turning. Buz passed away last month at 72.
“I want to return the trust that Buz had in me. I want to make sure I pay that back to the family,” Hemmeter said.
