Novel Coworking is set to open its new shared offices this week at the TriTech Center, the second downtown Minneapolis building it has bought and repurposed.

Novel operates co-working desks, private offices and office suites on floors four and five of the nine-story building. The space, which will have its grand opening Thursday, has similar features of its other locations including an espresso bar, beer on tap, and members' company logos displayed downstairs in the building's lobby.

There are conference rooms, phone booths, mothers' rooms as well as "smart" office suites that are Alexa-enabled.

The TriTech Center, located on 4th Street between 2nd and 3rd avenues, is close to 114,000 square feet and half occupied with traditional lease tenants. According to Hennepin County records, Novel bought the building for $8.6 million last October. It bought the LaSalle building, which used to be the location of the Art Institutes, in March of 2018 for close to $8 million.

Chicago-based Novel (formerly Level Office) buys its properties instead of leasing space, and company leaders say its model allows Novel to rent space to members at lower rates than its competitors. Novel opened its first shared office space in the Twin Cities last fall at the former Art Institutes building.

The Twin Cities has seen an explosion of new co-working offices in recent years. According to Cushman & Wakefield's most recent Compass report, the top three co-working providers – Regus, Novel Coworking and WeWork – account for more than half of the local co-working market, which now totals nearly 1.1 million square feet.