MedCoShare Inc., a Philadelphia startup that provides coworking space for health care and wellness professionals, has leased its second location and is looking at other sites to expand across the region.
The company opened its first location last August in 2,000 square feet at 2418 E. York St. in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia and has leased 5,400 square feet at 5 Greentree Centre in Marlton, New Jersey. Alex Breitmayer of JLL represented MedCoShare in the Marlton lease negotiations with landlord Veritas Real Estate.
"It made sense for them from an economic perspective and the configuration of the space made sense for both of us," said Rick Schwartz of Veritas. "I'm in a market where I'm dealing with small medical tenants all of the time and I know how they operate."
That MedCoShare is a startup also didn't phase Schwartz as much as it might other landlords who are apprehensive about taking such a new company on as a tenant. "I like their model and I think it's going to work," he said. "All of those things aligned to make this a good deal."
The company has ambitions to open a network of MedCoShare offices across Greater Philadelphia and eventually nationally that will provide multiple locations from which its members can work, said Ronak Vyas, MedCoShare's CEO and co-founder.
The genesis of MedCoShare came when Vyas was working as a commercial real estate broker. “I saw the inherent battle between medical tenants and landlords,” he said. “Landlords want long-term leases and personal guarantees and security deposits. For doctors and other health and wellness practitioners, they need the opposite depending on the phase of business they are in.”
Vyas found different drivers for his concept. Some are starting out and trying to establish a private medical practice but can’t necessarily afford the upfront costs associated with a new office lease. Others may want to open a second location and don’t want to carry the costs of both. A third group are doctors who are retiring or parents who still want to practice but only part-time.
MedCoShare provides memberships that range from $450 to $2,000 a month with available services that include medical waste removal and office cleaning. Pricing depends on how much time the space is used and how many sessions are needed. Each session is four hours and the space is not rented on an hourly basis. Full-time members have unrestricted use of their space, which amounts to a room.
A year after opening the first location in Fishtown, Vyas said there have been some lessons learned. “Every practitioner has different needs so you need to be flexible and accommodating,” he said. “And those who are in the beauty business don’t want to walk into a space that looks like a physician’s office.”
The South Jersey office is scheduled to open Nov. 1. In the meantime, MedCoShare has started a crowdfunding campaign to raise seed money to fund expansion into Bucks County, the Main Line, King of Prussia and other areas throughout the Northeast. The goal is to eventually attract venture capital or angel funding and expand nationally.
