An operator's read on whether cowarehousing works at your site.
Most feasibility work comes from consultants who have never run a facility. This one is built on real operating data across 50+ markets. We tell you plainly whether the market has demand, whether the building converts, and whether it pencils, before you sign an LOI.
What cowarehousing actually is
Think coworking, but for warehouse and light-industrial space. Small private bays, flexible month-to-month terms, and shared infrastructure that no single small tenant could afford on their own.
Cowarehousing operators lease or own a building and subdivide it into small private units, typically 125 to 2,000+ square feet, then rent them on flexible terms to e-commerce sellers, makers, contractors, food and beverage producers, 3PLs, and content creators.
The tenant gets a warehouse without a five-year lease or a forklift purchase. The operator layers in shared loading docks, receiving, pick-and-pack, mailbox and business address, conference rooms, and forklift rental, then charges a premium per square foot for the flexibility and the services.
It is the "missing middle" of industrial real estate: too small for a traditional triple-net lease, too operationally demanding for a passive landlord, and exactly the slice of demand that small-bay vacancy data shows is starved for supply. Storage is 80 to 85% of revenue. Services are the margin engine.
For a building owner or developer, it is a way to turn an obsolete office floor, a struggling strip retail box, or a vacant flex building into a multi-tenant cash-flow asset with self-storage-like economics and far better rent per foot.
Known by many names
- Also called Co-warehousing, micro-warehousing, flex bays, small-bay flex, warehouse condos for rent
- Operators Saltbox, WareSpace, Cubework, ReadySpaces, Portal, Loloft, Rise CD, Elevator
- Tenants Shopify / Amazon sellers, subscription boxes, makers, contractors, food & bev, 3PLs, creators
- Best buildings Vacant flex, tired office, big-box retail, older small-bay industrial
Why you should care
A feasibility study turns "this could be interesting" into a defensible decision. What you get out of it depends on which seat you sit in.
Move the listing that won't move
You have a vacant flex, office, or retail box that traditional tenants keep passing on. A cowarehousing angle opens a new buyer and tenant pool, and a credible feasibility study gives you something concrete to put in front of owners and investors.
Higher rent per foot than NNN
Cowarehousing can lift gross rent per square foot well above what a single triple-net warehouse tenant pays, with self-storage-style diversification across many small tenants instead of one big lease-renewal cliff.
Underwrite a new asset class with confidence
Whether it's a ground-up small-bay project or a value-add reposition, the question is the same: is there real demand in this submarket, and will it absorb? The study models unit mix, absorption to stabilization, and the demand cluster around the site.
Why the demand is real, and why now
This is not a coworking-style fad chasing cheap money. The supply-demand imbalance shows up in hard rent and vacancy data.
Small bays are starved
Sub-100K sf is 41.9% of US industrial stock, yet small-bay vacancy sits at 4.1% against 7.0% for broader industrial: the widest gap ever recorded. Demand has outrun supply.
Rents are climbing faster
Small-bay rents are up 40% since 2020 versus 30% for industrial overall. Rate is no longer the moat. Flexibility and services are what tenants will pay a premium for.
Obsolete space needs a use
Tired office, struggling retail, and older flex are trading at discounts. Cowarehousing is one of the few reuses with the unit economics to justify the conversion capex.
What a Biz Ops Studio feasibility study answers
A single, sourced report on a fixed structure. Every factual claim is cited inline. It ends in a weighted scorecard and a clear verdict, not a maybe.
Site snapshot
Building type, configuration, parking, docks, clear height, flood zone, and submarket, plus a conversion vs. ground-up framing.
Small-bay vacancy & rents
Metro and submarket fundamentals: overall and small-bay vacancy, and NNN asking rents by product type for your specific market.
Demand cluster scan
Named e-commerce, 3PL, light-manufacturing, and contractor demand drivers within a 5 to 10 mile radius of the site.
Zoning & entitlement risk
Whether warehousing, light manufacturing, and multi-tenant industrial are by-right, plus the confirmation items that can kill a deal.
Rent premium economics
Operator pricing benchmarks vs. local traditional industrial rents, stated as a gross premium and a net effective uplift after opex.
Conversion capex
Fit-out cost by amenity tier, adjusted for what the building already has, with the gating questions: docks, slab loads, truck circulation, HVAC.
Absorption outlook
Lease-up timeline to 85% stabilization under two or three unit-mix scenarios, grounded in local absorption data.
Scorecard & verdict
A weighted Market Readiness Scorecard, a Go / Conditional Go / No-Go call, and a numbered pre-LOI diligence checklist.
A verdict you can underwrite, not a maybe
Every study closes with a weighted scorecard across demand fundamentals, vacancy and competition, cluster density, physical suitability, zoning risk, achievable rent premium, capital intensity, and absorption confidence. The verdict names the single biggest execution risk in one sentence.
Three ways to engage
Start with a quick market read, go deep on a single site, or get a full institution-grade feasibility study. Each tier builds on the one before it.
Market Scan
- Metro and submarket small-bay vacancy and rent read
- Demand cluster overview for the target market
- Existing cowarehousing competition map
- Top-line "is this market worth a deeper look" call
- Short sourced memo, no site-specific underwriting
Single-Site Audit
- Everything in Market Scan, focused on one building
- Full site snapshot, zoning, and entitlement risk read
- Rent premium and net effective uplift analysis
- Conversion capex estimate by amenity tier
- Absorption model and unit-mix scenarios
- Weighted scorecard, Go / Conditional / No-Go verdict
- Numbered pre-LOI diligence checklist
Full Feasibility
- Everything in Single-Site Audit
- Multi-site or portfolio underwriting
- Pro forma model with operating assumptions
- Unit-mix and pricing strategy build
- Investor or capital-partner ready deck
- Optional operating-partner path post-decision
Why this study, from this operator
Most feasibility work is done by generalist CRE consultants who have never run a cowarehousing facility. This one is built on operating data and a benchmark library that exists nowhere else.
The study is anchored in real operating data, not a spreadsheet of assumptions. Pricing, CAC by channel, churn, retention, and absorption come from operating data across 50-plus markets and a proprietary benchmark library compiled across the operator landscape.
Of the 25-plus KPIs operators actually need, only 7 can be triangulated against public data. The other 18, including CAC, LTV, services attach, and channel quality, exist only inside the Biz Ops Studio library. That is the difference between a guess and an underwrite.
You get an operator who has lived the throughput discipline, the unit-mix graduation problem, and the GTM channel reality, telling you plainly whether this site or market is worth your capital.
- ✓Operator, not observerBuilt and scaled operations at Portal Warehousing through the GCM Grosvenor strategic partnership.
- ✓Proprietary benchmark library12 KPI categories, a 7-tier bay taxonomy, and a 25-plus operator footprint behind every number.
- ✓Every claim sourcedPublic data carries a citation; portfolio data carries a confidence rating. Nothing is invented.
- ✓A clear verdictGo / Conditional Go / No-Go with the single biggest risk named, so you can act.
Request a feasibility study
Tell us about the site or market and we'll come back with the right tier, scope, and fee. Most intake calls happen within two business days.
Andrew Runnette
Operator-turned-founder focused on flex space: coworking, cowarehousing, and the FlexPulse AI / FlexBay OS ventures. Built and scaled operations at Portal Warehousing through the GCM Grosvenor strategic partnership, and now advises operators, owners, and developers across the segment.
Biz Ops Studio's cowarehousing benchmark library is the source-of-truth behind every feasibility study: the same data clients use for QBRs, scoping, and investor materials.