Hines is getting into the coworking biz. Image courtesy of Hines

Houston-based real estate investor and developer Hines Interests LP is eyeing a piece of the burgeoning market for coworking space.

Hines just unveiled Hines², a platform for flexible office space at Hines-owned buildings. Hines² already is up and running at two locations: 717 Texas, a 33-story Class A office tower in Houston, and The Kearns Building, a 10-story office building in Salt Lake City.

Justin Boyar, director of market analytics at CoStar Group, a provider of commercial real estate data and analytics, points out that the two Hines buildings where Hines² has launched had vacancy rates of 48.6 percent (717 Texas in Houston) and 32.4 percent (Kearns Building in Salt Lake City) in the third quarter of this year.

Landlords like Hines increasingly are incorporating coworking into their office buildings "as a way to creatively entice tenants to buildings otherwise suffering high vacancy rates," Boyar says.

"Office landlords have been under siege this cycle by new space utilization trends — including increased density and efficiency, open floorplates, remote work, hoteling, and coworking," he says. "Office landlords now not only have to compete with structurally shrinking office demand but also with coworking providers who now offer hotel-like amenities and programming."

On the horizon are Hines² setups in markets such as Atlanta, Boston, Denver, New York City, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. Eventually, Hines plans to enter other markets in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.

New York City-based Industrious, a provider of flexible workspace, is Hines' operating partner for the new venture. Industrious runs more than 80 flexible-workspace sites in more than 40 U.S. cities. Additionally, Hines has teamed up with New York City-based Convene to provide event management and meeting services.

"Hines' workplace services offering will serve as a complement to our existing office capabilities, strengthening our position as the preferred partner for tenants and investors around the world, without changing our risk profile or leasing strategy. It's a natural extension of our vertically integrated operating model," Charlie Kuntz, chief innovation officer at Hines, says in a release.

Inside Hines properties, Industrious will operate centers known as The Square, which will supply coworking and flexible-workspace options, meeting and event services, food, beverages, collaboration areas, and community programming.

"The Square is a direct response to the changing needs of our current and future building tenants — our core customers. Hines has a 60-plus-year track record of providing superior space and service, and flexible workspace and office hospitality are a logical progression for us," Kuntz says.

In the coworking sector, Hines goes up against established players like Regus and WeWork. Working to Hines' advantage in the increasingly competitive coworking field is that it already owns the office buildings where Hines² will operate.

Coworking ventures like Hines² continue to emerge, given that flexible workspace and shared-amenity spaces are projected to make up about 30 percent of the U.S. office market by 2030, according to a forecast from commercial real estate services company JLL. Today, coworking accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. office market, according to CoStar.

CoStar says Regus ranks first among U.S. providers of coworking space, with about 16.8 million square feet. At No. 2 is WeWork, with 14.8 million square feet. Boyar predicts WeWork might surpass Regus by the end of 2019 to claim the No. 1 spot.

Boyar says that Regus and WeWork still dwarf other coworking providers in terms of lease space, although he notes that Hines partner Industrious is one of the fastest-growing providers in the U.S.

Nearly 47 percent of coworking occupancy in the U.S. is spread among six major office markets, according to CoStar. They are New York City; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Boston; and Chicago.

Paul Leonard, managing consultant at CoStar Portfolio Strategy, says that although coworking is experiencing rapid growth, "it remains a small piece of the office universe and today is more of a collaborator with landlords than a competitor. That may change with time, but operators like WeWork have a far smaller share of office demand compared to other disruptors like Airbnb for hotels or Uber for rideshare and taxi services."

In Houston, coworking represents less than 0.5 percent of leased office space, or about 1.4 million square feet, according to Boyar. An estimated 190 buildings in the Houston area lease space to coworking tenants.

"Surprisingly, even this little amount of coworking space puts Houston in the conversation with the largest coworking markets in the U.S.," he says.

Boyar says it makes sense for Houston-based Hines to break into the coworking market in its hometown and elsewhere.

Hines is "seen by many industry insiders as the gold standard, so their foray into the coworking space represents an acceptance, of sorts, that coworking is here to stay," he says. "Subjectively, I think their partnership with Industrious and Convene represents formidable competition in the coworking space."

That being said, Boyar doubts Hines will embark on aggressive growth in coworking, as WeWork has. But he says Hines² "will allow them the ability to offer more flexible solutions to their tenants. If I were Hines, I would see this a risk worth taking."

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California company to launch Walmart drone delivery in Houston

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California-based Wing will soon touch down in Houston.

The drone delivery company has partnered with Walmart Supercenters in Houston, Atlanta, Charlotte, Orlando and Tampa. According to a news release, Wing’s drone delivery services will be available at 100 Walmart stores across the selected markets by this time next year.

Wing also plans to expand to additional Walmart stores in Dallas-Fort Worth, where Wing and Walmart already serve customers from 18 Walmart Supercenters. Wing reports that it has completed thousands of deliveries from DFW-area Walmarts with an average fulfillment time of under 19 minutes. Wing and Walmart launched their first location in the Dallas area in the fall of 2023.

"The popularity of drone delivery in DFW is a testament not just to its convenience, but to the way this technology quickly becomes a part of everyday life,” Wing CEO Adam Woodworth said in the news release. “Walmart has been a strong partner that shares our commitment to innovation and is equally eager to bring this new type of service to many more households.”

Customers in Houston and the other markets in the latest expansion can visit wing.com/walmart to be notified when drone delivery becomes available in their area.

The service works similarly to any other online shopping platform, and users can select the exact location for the drone to drop off their package. Items are packaged in a specialized box that a Wing drone retrieves from Walmart. The drones cruise up to 65 mph and drop off the package outside a shopper's home.

“This is real drone delivery at scale,” Woodworth said in the release. “People all around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex have made drone delivery part of their normal shopping habits over the past year. Now we’re excited to share this ultra-fast delivery experience with millions more people across many more U.S. cities.”

Houston team develops innovative soft skeleton for kids with cerebral palsy

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A team from the NSF University of Houston Building Reliable Advances and Innovation in Neurotechnology (UH BRAIN) Center and TIRR Memorial Hermann has introduced the MyoStep soft exoskeleton for children with cerebral palsy, according to a news release from UH.

The soft skeleton aims to address motor impairments caused by cerebral palsy that impact children’s ability to participate in physical activities, self-care and academics.

“The MyoStep project represents a significant advancement in the field of pediatric mobility aids, particularly for children with cerebral palsy,” Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, director of UH BRAIN and the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, said in a news release.

The next-generation lightweight, soft exoskeleton was funded by the IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Award.

The MyoStep is made to be lightweight and discreetly fit under clothes. It includes a wireless sensor network embedded inside the smart and flexible fabrics that is the backbone of the suit and collects and sends real-time data about the user’s movements It also includes safety features with temperature monitoring and emergency shut-off mechanisms.

“By integrating cutting-edge technologies such as artificial muscles, smart fabrics, and a comprehensive sensor network, MyoStep offers a promising solution to the challenges faced by existing exoskeletons,” Contreras-Vidal said in a news release.

Cerebral palsy is a neurological disorder that impacts motor skills. It occurs in one to four out of every 1,000 births worldwide.

“What makes the MyoStep project so compelling is that it’s not just about the technology: it’s about restoring confidence, function, and hope,” Dr. Gerard Francisco, a clinical partner on the technology, The Wulfe Family Chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UTHealth Houston and medical officer at TIRR Memorial Hermann, said in a news release. “This kind of innovation has the potential to dramatically improve quality of life, helping children move through the world with greater ease and dignity.”