• The coworking space company has chosen Chile to start its regional expansion. It is already in Valparaíso and will now open in the capital.

HIT Cowork, an Argentine flexible workspace company, is seeking to establish itself as one of the leading companies in its field in Chile. It has already made its debut in Valparaíso and is now preparing two openings in Santiago.

The company began life in 2015 and quickly established itself as Argentina’s largest local serviced corporate offices company, with more than 25,000 square meters. The company then went on to define its regional expansion plan, which includes Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico and Brazil.

In Chile, it started operations in Valparaíso a few weeks ago. Its facility there has a capacity for 400 positions, with offices for from three to +50 people, of which 70% are already occupied. Within the next few months, the company plans to make its debut in Santiago, with premises in the city’s El Golf district for 1,000 positions, with offices for from three to more than 100 people. In parallel, it will open another facility with similar characteristics in the Alonso de Córdova district.

“We have been analyzing the market for several months and, out of all the available alternatives, have made progress on two buildings in eastern Santiago that best reflect HIT’s standards,” says Consuelo Vivanco, Senior Transaction Manager at JLL.

Scale economies

Gabriel Bucher, HIT’s head of regional expansion, explains that the company’s services go beyond the system traditionally known as coworking. “We are a company that offers flexible offices and serviced workspaces,” he says.

He stresses that, in its locations, the company offers alternatives for all segments from SMEs to large companies such as Accenture, Mercado Libre, Santander, Syngenta, Banco Galicia and Telefónica.

“Today, companies need greater agility and speed in their start-up and daily operations. In this context, a company will unnecessarily lose time and money if it decides to equip an office from scratch and then operate it on its own. If, on the other hand, it decides to hire workspace at HIT, it can focus on what really matters, which is the company and its business, without having to worry about setting up an office from scratch and, worse, operate it,” he adds.

According to the executive, the option HIT offers is significantly cheaper than the traditional alternative of equipping an office from zero and then operating it. This is thanks to the economies of scale that a company like HIT can generate as a result of the volume of square meters it operates, he explains. He points out that, in addition, this option permits a flexible contract (a company can obtain increased space almost immediately or, on the contrary, reduce it) and pays only for the positions it occupies and can have the space fitted out exclusively and to measure (with its corporate image).

Finally, Bucher notes that HIT’s services have accounting advantages for users. “Under IFRS norms, the contract with HIT counts as an operating expense in the income statement, reducing the impact on the balance sheet (by reducing liabilities),” he concludes.

To find out more about investment opportunities in Chile, see this article.

Source: Diario Financiero