CEO lands tenant for downtown Las Vegas coworking space

This rendering shows the finished building at 1201 S. Main St. in downtown Las Vegas. A New York-based operator of shared workspaces has leased part of the building for new office space meant for startups and business owners. (Courtesy of Metroplex Group)

A group works inside a Bar Works location in the West Village neighborhood of New York. The company has selected a building in downtown Las Vegas to convert into a coworking space for entrepreneurs and business owners. (Bar Works)

One of Paul Murad’s better gifts this holiday season came a couple of days before Christmas in the form of a deposit for the newest tenant in a Main Street building downtown.

The president of local real estate company Metroplex searched for about a year for the right business, taking an interest in coworking spaces, where multiple business owners and entrepreneurs can share cheaper office space.

Murad found that tenant during a trip to San Francisco, when he attended a grand opening for a new coworking space in the city.

Now, Bar Works, based in New York, will open a coworking location in a former furniture store at 1201 S. Main St. in about 100 days.

“They’re not wasting any time,” Murad said. “I’m surprised by how fast they’ve moved.”

Bar Works operates three locations in New York and plans for ones in Miami, United Kingdom and Ireland.

It bills itself as different from other workspace operators by charging flat monthly fees and providing a flexible exit for tenants.

The company signed a 10-year lease for 5,000 square feet at the building, at the intersection of Main State and California Avenue. He said the company has started looking for startups to add to the space.

The building received construction permits for $500,000 worth of work in November, according to city records.

Attention on downtown from developers is good news for the area, said Maria Phelan, public relations director for Downtown Project.

The group, affiliated with Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, owns and operates Container Park, Gold Spike and other locations downtown.

“We’re happy to see development and growth across downtown, whether it directly benefits the area where our holdings are concentrated or not,” Phelan said.

Contact Wade Tyler Millward at 702-383-4602 or wmillward@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @wademillward