The > Real Estate > Square Feet: Working Alone, Together

HEN Fernando Figueroa, the owner and only employee of a software development and Web site design company called B Realm, fell behind on his 0 monthly rent for a tiny 50-square-foot cubicle at 45 West 21st Street, help came from an unlikely source: his landlord.

"I wanted him to stay as a tenant," said Joe Raby, a founder and managing partner at Sunshine Realty Management, which specializes in leasing entire floors and then dividing the space and offering it to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs. "An adventure travel guy moved in, needed a Web site, and I referred him to Fernando. It helped him get the business and pay the back rent."

That was not a typical commercial real estate transaction - nor was Mr. Raby's recent offer to let Mr. Figueroa have free rent if he would sit at a desk just inside the office space and sign for packages. But then this isn't a typical office: a swimsuit designer is next to a direct-mail marketer; real estate brokers are next to concert promoters; a 15-year-old Pomeranian named Amadeus roams the space like a mascot; and tenants go snowboarding with their landlords.

To compete with other post-dot-com office suite companies aimed at young professionals, Sunshine Suites has adapted its offerings to include services beyond a desk and a telephone. The tenants, many of them solo entrepreneurs, benefit from being part of something larger. They can play on a company softball team and get a year of free checking at a bank and reduced-price gym memberships. More important, the bargaining power of many companies together will allow tenants to gain access to group health insurance, which tends to be cheaper than individual insurance and is something that the company is working toward.

The availability of office suites is nothing new. Bruce Sklover has owned A to B Properties at 32nd Street and Madison Avenue with 5,500 square feet of enclosed offices for 18 years. "We have space ranging from 100 to 400 square feet," he said. At his center, where offices start at 5 a month, occupancy has picked up in the past couple of years, but 10 percent of the space is vacant.

Other suite companies have grown in the past few years as a result of increasing demand for flexible space. Regus Group, among the largest companies providing serviced office space, has 750 locations in 60 countries. Mark L. J. Dixon, the chief executive, said half of his clients are Fortune 500 companies.

"There is little need to bring people all together in one building," Mr. Dixon said in a telephone interview from one of his office centers in London. "Interaction tends to take place in meetings, and that can be done online or through video conferencing."

While that freedom may be a relief for people who have been accustomed to tight corporate ties, entrepreneurs are often eager for connection rather than independence. Mr. Raby and his partner, Cheni Yerushalmi, have gained a following by offering affordable, attractive and all-inclusive offices. Since opening in October 2001 and selling out that November, the partners now lease 15,000 square feet on four floors in two buildings: 21st Street and as of last week, 419 Lafayette Street.

The newest location has 59 work spaces, which can hold up to four workers each, housing 80 to 100 companies. They will add another 8,000 square feet when they open the floor below in March. The two floors on Lafayette Street, formerly used by the Internet company Razorfish, are loftlike, with more than 25 windows each. The two owners did some of the renovations themselves. With a waterfall, a conference room and a chic-yet-functional stainless steel kitchen, it feels like a post-collegiate flat-share.

Initially, Mr. Raby and Mr. Yerushalmi followed the existing model for executive suites, offering enclosed offices. But they found that people tended to be more interested in cubiclelike workstations for the cost-efficiency and the proximity to others.

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