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More commercial buyers are taking a page from the coworking trend, in which office space is used in a more communal way. Operators of coworking spaces typically sign a lease for a generic office and build out areas for numerous desks and amenities often geared toward community. Operators then sublease those areas at a premium, and on short, flexible terms, to individuals or companies looking for smaller office space. “Coworking is upping the game for everybody, and it’s allowing landlords and occupiers to see there’s a whole different service-level offering we should be looking at that goes above and beyond providing space,” Peter Belisle, southwest market director at Jones Lang Lasalle Inc., told the Costar Group. “It’s about focus on the soft services, not just the brick and mortar.” Different coworking arrangements are becoming mainstream. For example, The Blackstone Group L.P. announced a deal with coworking operator Industrious to license space at one of The Blackstone Group's office complexes in Los Angeles with 1.3 million square feet. Several different businesses will set up shop there, but Industrious seeks cohesiveness in the space. “This is part of an industry shift away from arms-length leases,” says Jamie Hodari, CEO and cofounder of Industrious. “Part of the reasons why landlords in circumstances like this prefer a management arrangement with an operator like us is that it greatly enhances and expands the scope of what we are able to do for the building.” “Coworking is now becoming the new amenity,” says Katy Sargent, senior principal and director of workplace practice at architecture and design firm HOK. “Years ago, everybody had a gym, but now it’s coworking. What we learned is you can’t just put in a space and say you have it. People go to gyms for the comradery, instructors, and classes, and that’s why corporate gyms aren’t used as much.” In coworking, “you have to create a sense of community,” she says. “This absolutely is going to change the way we deliver space, and it’s going to challenge leases as well.”