Thrive Workplace’s location at 1415 Park Ave. West in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood. (Courtesy Thrive Workplace)
Two of the longest-running Denver coworking firms have merged with an eye on expansion, aiming to provide a range of options to landlords seeking to fill vacant office space.
Thrive Workplace, owned by brothers Chad and Charlie Johnson, and Craig Baute’s Creative Density have joined forces in an arrangement that will keep the separate brand names while providing members of each with access to all eight combined locations.
“This is the step for growth again after COVID,” Baute said.
No cash changed hands as part of the deal. The Johnsons have majority ownership in the combined company. Thrive did $4.2 million in revenue last year, the brothers said, while Creative Density did just over $1 million, according to Baute.
Craig Baute
Baute said the goal is to have 12 locations total by the end of next year. The first area of expansion? Castle Rock, where a nearly 14,000-square-foot lease had been signed for a Thrive location.
Baute established Creative Density in 2011 and has been “kind of the face of coworking locally,” according to Chad Johnson. The company currently has three locations in the Denver neighborhoods of Park Hill, Sunnyside and Uptown.
Each is small — 3,000 to 8,000 square feet — and run through a management agreement, in which a landlord builds out the space and Creative Density operates it, paying a set monthly fee as well as profit share.
At Thrive, meanwhile, Charlie Johnson had been working in construction management and Chad Johnston was an architect when the two established the company in 2010. Their backgrounds helped them build out locations for relatively cheap.
Thrive signs traditional leases, and its spaces are bigger. The company operates 24,000 square feet in Ballpark, 22,000 square feet in Centennial, 21,000 square feet in Arvada, and 9,000 square feet in Cherry Creek. The business also has 32,000 square feet in Lakewood that features showrooms for outdoor brands, filling a role that the defunct Denver Mart used to play.
Chad Johnson
The companies have about 1,200 members between them, Baute said, and the men share “a very similar ideology” that stems from creating coworking spaces before WeWork became a household name.
“We come from this early version of coworking,” Baute said.
Baute said the size of both companies is notable. Most independent coworking brands don’t progress beyond one or two locations, while national brands like WeWork, Industrious and Regus have planted their flag across the country.
For a while, Baute said, he could run Creative Density without middle management. One person managed each location, and he was above them. But now, at both Creative Density and Thrive, the companies are large enough that they’re starting to need an additional level of staff.
The merger, Baute said, means just one set of middle managers is needed.
Inside Thrive Workplace’s Ballpark location. (Courtesy Thrive Workplace)
Charlie Johnson said teaming up also means the combined firm can offer more to landlords. He, his brother and Baute are now open to both traditional leases and management agreements, interested in both small or large spaces and capable of designing and building out vacant space.
Charlie Johnson
While 12 locations by the end of next year is a goal, it’s not the final vision. Charlie Johnson said he envisions the Thrive brand stretching from Fort Collins to at least Colorado Springs, and potentially into the mountain towns.
Baute said the pandemic battered the coworking sector, but “we’ve been back in growth mode for about one-and-a-half years, because companies that gave up office space are giving people a coworking allowance.”
Charlie Johnson said last year’s revenue was a record, but not all sites perform equally.
“The sites that have been in the suburbs have done well,” he said. “Downtown has been slow.”
Thrive Workplace’s location at 1415 Park Ave. West in Denver’s Ballpark neighborhood. (Courtesy Thrive Workplace)
Two of the longest-running Denver coworking firms have merged with an eye on expansion, aiming to provide a range of options to landlords seeking to fill vacant office space.
Thrive Workplace, owned by brothers Chad and Charlie Johnson, and Craig Baute’s Creative Density have joined forces in an arrangement that will keep the separate brand names while providing members of each with access to all eight combined locations.
“This is the step for growth again after COVID,” Baute said.
No cash changed hands as part of the deal. The Johnsons have majority ownership in the combined company. Thrive did $4.2 million in revenue last year, the brothers said, while Creative Density did just over $1 million, according to Baute.
Craig Baute
Baute said the goal is to have 12 locations total by the end of next year. The first area of expansion? Castle Rock, where a nearly 14,000-square-foot lease had been signed for a Thrive location.
Baute established Creative Density in 2011 and has been “kind of the face of coworking locally,” according to Chad Johnson. The company currently has three locations in the Denver neighborhoods of Park Hill, Sunnyside and Uptown.
Each is small — 3,000 to 8,000 square feet — and run through a management agreement, in which a landlord builds out the space and Creative Density operates it, paying a set monthly fee as well as profit share.
At Thrive, meanwhile, Charlie Johnson had been working in construction management and Chad Johnston was an architect when the two established the company in 2010. Their backgrounds helped them build out locations for relatively cheap.
Thrive signs traditional leases, and its spaces are bigger. The company operates 24,000 square feet in Ballpark, 22,000 square feet in Centennial, 21,000 square feet in Arvada, and 9,000 square feet in Cherry Creek. The business also has 32,000 square feet in Lakewood that features showrooms for outdoor brands, filling a role that the defunct Denver Mart used to play.
Chad Johnson
The companies have about 1,200 members between them, Baute said, and the men share “a very similar ideology” that stems from creating coworking spaces before WeWork became a household name.
“We come from this early version of coworking,” Baute said.
Baute said the size of both companies is notable. Most independent coworking brands don’t progress beyond one or two locations, while national brands like WeWork, Industrious and Regus have planted their flag across the country.
For a while, Baute said, he could run Creative Density without middle management. One person managed each location, and he was above them. But now, at both Creative Density and Thrive, the companies are large enough that they’re starting to need an additional level of staff.
The merger, Baute said, means just one set of middle managers is needed.
Inside Thrive Workplace’s Ballpark location. (Courtesy Thrive Workplace)
Charlie Johnson said teaming up also means the combined firm can offer more to landlords. He, his brother and Baute are now open to both traditional leases and management agreements, interested in both small or large spaces and capable of designing and building out vacant space.
Charlie Johnson
While 12 locations by the end of next year is a goal, it’s not the final vision. Charlie Johnson said he envisions the Thrive brand stretching from Fort Collins to at least Colorado Springs, and potentially into the mountain towns.
Baute said the pandemic battered the coworking sector, but “we’ve been back in growth mode for about one-and-a-half years, because companies that gave up office space are giving people a coworking allowance.”
Charlie Johnson said last year’s revenue was a record, but not all sites perform equally.
“The sites that have been in the suburbs have done well,” he said. “Downtown has been slow.”
