Common Reveals Remote Work Hub RFP Finalists, Identifies Cities Poised for Remote Work-Fueled Growth

NEW YORK, Jan. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Common, the leading real estate brand and tech-driven operating platform, has chosen the finalists for the Remote Work Hub, a Request For Proposals (RFP) to design and build a first-of-its-kind development for a distributed workforce. The five finalists represent five different unique visions and categories of emerging cities that are poised to benefit from the sweeping popularity and necessity of remote work.  Respondents from New Orleans, Bentonville, Ogden, Rocky Mount, and Rochester will move into the workshop phase to become Common's first ever Remote Work Hub locations.

In August 2020, Common issued the Remote Work Hub RFP, a site selection competition that asked both public and private respondents to submit locations for the first Hub. The RFP had two major goals. One was to build a real estate product for the way millions of Americans are already living: in the same places that they work. The other was to attract economic development to up-and-coming cities in a world where a worker's location isn't dictated by their employer. The RFP received 28 responses, a selection of which were presented to the Remote Work Hub Advising Jury including Amy Nelson CEO of Venture for America and Adam Demuyakor Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Wilshire Lane Partners. The submissions were judged on a scale of factors including affordability, geographic location, site context, executability, and product vision.

"It has become overwhelmingly clear over the past nine months that traditional corporate life - every employee going to the office every day - is no longer the way things will get done in a post-pandemic America. While this enables workers to live literally anywhere, I am bullish on cities and believe most will choose to live near others, favoring amenities, culture, and socialization," said Brad Hargreaves, the Founder and CEO of Common. "The responses we received to the Remote Work Hub RFP were outstanding in their quality and vision of the future of residential real estate. I am thrilled to be taking Common's brand to these new locations and build the natural connection between work and life in modern residential real estate."

The five finalists for the Remote Work Hub RFP are:

• The Established City: NOLA Workstyle in New Orleans, Louisiana. Submitted by Formwork Development, NOLA Workstyle provides remote workers a home in a diverse and culturally rich city, and balances the demands of remote work with access to an urban linear park that resembles the Beltline in Atlanta and the Highline in New York City.  Within the growing and diverse Mid-City neighborhood, the proposal includes a series of buildings containing over 200 residential units featuring private outdoor spaces with flexible floor plans including in-home work areas, and targets that 35% of the project scope will be performed by minority or women-owned businesses.
• The Under the Radar Gem: Downtown Bentonville, Arkansas. Bentonville is an affordable midsize city on the rise, with strong leadership and local champions for economic opportunity.  The proposal from local real estate trailblazers Blue Crane LLC is a multi-acre that will be master-planned to create a new destination in the city.  Northwest Arkansas is home to multiple fortune 500 companies, world-class museums, the University of Arkansas, and well-loved trail systems. The region is economically strong and a great place for startups, entrepreneurship, and established companies alike. This paired with the region's high quality of life makes Northwest Arkansas a strong choice for developers and investors. Bentonville has a thriving cycling community and was recently named Mountain Biking Capital of the World, where approximately 130 miles of single-track mountain biking trails connect to the city's downtown. Daily life in Bentonville offers local art and culinary experiences, including performances, an expanding public art scene, restaurants, craft breweries, and more.
• Placemaking Perfected: Rocky Mount Mills in Rocky Mount, NC: After completing the renovation of a 200-year old cotton mill with offices, residences, a tiny home hotel and microbrewery incubator, family-owned Capitol Broadcasting Company is looking to tackle the urban-rural divide in the second phase of the project. The site, adjacent to the first phase is 45 minutes east of Raleigh and includes a 100,000 square foot textile mill that will reimagine a live-work hub borrowing lessons from CBC's work on its own startup hub (American Underground) and historic renovation project (American Tobacco Campus) in Durham, NC.
• The Remote Work Destination: Electric Alley & Powder Mountain in Ogden, Utah. Submitted by a partnership between Outlier Realty Capital and Powder Development, Electric Alley & Powder Mountain is a multi-phase development touching both downtown Ogden and Powder Mountain, North America's largest ski resort. Totaling about 200k square feet of buildable space in the heart of Downtown Ogden, the site envisions live, work, and play through multiple mixed-use buildings offering a wide variety of amenities and seamless access to some of the best recreation in the country.  
• A 2021 Revival: The Aqueduct in Rochester, New York. The Aqueduct is an iconic historic landmark campus with a park located on the Genesee river at the center of downtown Rochester. This seven building adaptive reuse development includes 194k square feet of space previously used as commercial office that will be renovated into 150+ residential units/beds, remote work spaces, amenity, and commercial spaces.  This transformative project will create a unique live, work, and play campus that will be a mecca for tech workers, students, and artisans to collaborate and experience pop up events in Aqueduct Park.  Aqueduct will be programmed with retail/amenity spaces that connect to the Roc the Riverway promenade which will further activate the west side of the riverfront. The developer's major investment continues the economic revitalization of downtown Rochester, building upon the innovation ecosystem and remote work initiatives already established by ROC 2025. Principals on the project include Landers Management, Costanza Enterprises, and Rob Sands.

Starting at the end of December, the finalists began design and development workshops with Common's architecture team, Common Studio. In these workshops, each respondent will determine the typology and workspace layout that fits best within their building and the context of the community. Common intends to pursue projects with all five finalists, and the detailed architectural Remote Work Hub concepts in each location will be revealed to the public this Spring.

For more information visit remoteworkhub.common.com, or reach out to Common's real estate team at [email protected].

About Common

Common is the leading residential brand and operating platform that designs, leases, and manages multifamily properties that appeal to today's renters. Through smart design and tech-enabled property management, Common delivers exceptional experiences across eleven cities and over 4,000 members in all types of multifamily apartments: coliving, microunit, and traditional. We are the preferred choice for both residents looking for a stress-free and all-inclusive living environment from a trusted brand, and for real estate owners seeking reliable, above-market returns. The Common platform also includes workforce housing management brand Noah and family-first urban designer and operator Kin.  With over 18,000 units signed and under development and over $110 million in venture capital investment, Common is expanding into 22 cities across the world. To work with us, visit our partners page or follow us on Instagram at @common.living.

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