Flexible office space firm Jay Suites is venturing into the conference-room leasing business.
The New York-based firm, which has 700,000 square feet of office leased in the city catering to mid-size enterprise clients, has opened a 20,000 square foot space at 515 Madison Avenue and a 22,000 square foot space at 15 West 38th Street. The spaces, named Jay Conferences, will be filled with conference rooms and equipment for hire, starting at $99 a day per person.
The need for conference room-leasing, an arm of the flexible office phenomenon, has traditionally been met by hotels. The largest player in the space, Convene, a New York-based firm that rents conference rooms, has raised $280 million, from the likes of the Durst Organization, Brookfield, RXR Realty and others. It currently has 23 locations with plans to double that figure this year, according to the firm’s CEO, Ryan Simonetti.
“There’s not too many people in the game right now,” said Juda Srour, Jay Suites’s president. “I see more people working in less space and there’s not too many places beside Convene and hotels that have these kind of places.”
Jay Suites, which was founded by Juda and his brother Jack in 2008, has not raised any funding. Juda said the firm has currently invested $10 million into the new venture, and added that the company is profitable.