Fit for a Kinglet

Baltimore real-estate experts Alex Kopicki, 34, and Jeff Jacobson, 46, are bringing the sharing economy to commercial real estate. After leaving real-estate behemoth Manekin four years ago, the duo launched their own development firm, but found securing office space difficult.

Explains Jacobson: “We said, ‘It shouldn’t be this hard for a small business to find office space.’ That led to us exploring the marketplace.”

That exploration resulted in the founding of a second business, Kinglet, which aggregates unused office space around the metro area on kinglet.biz, allowing landlords and potential tenants to connect à la Airbnb or Parking Panda.

“There’s just all this excess,” says Kopicki. “We find it really exciting that there are these platforms now that are allowing utilization.”

Ranging from studios to suites in locations from Federal Hill to Hunt Valley, the furnished spaces start as low as $100 per month (plus a 10 percent fee). Unveiled in September, plans call for expansion to Washington, D.C., by March.

“The world is working differently, and we think there is going to be a different approach to space,” says Jacobson. “This is a solution for it.”