The process required to get Garrett Tichy’s next coworking office near Wesley Heights up and running isn’t his preferred way to open a new location. It’s 20,000 square feet — larger than any of his other locations — and, because of its size, it’s going to take eight months to build out.

“In eight months from now, I could have two more locations,” Tichy said. “I have eight people looking for offices today, so how do I put them in a space today?”

Tichy is the founder and owner of Hygge Coworking, a Charlotte-based company that opened its first coworking space at 809 W. Hill St. in Third Ward in October 2015. Today, Hygge has offices in west Charlotte, Camp North End and the AvidXchange Music Factory, following a recent merger with another local group, Industry Coworking.

The upcoming location at 1026 Jay St. will not only be Hygge’s largest but will also include a retail coffee shop, which none of Hygge’s offices have so far.

Tichy attributes Hygge’s growth and success to starting small, leasing somewhat untraditional spaces in high-demand locations, then scaling appropriately, in addition to building a strong brand.

“My goal is to get into a space with as low rent as possible, do the work myself and get (it) open in two months,” Tichy said.

Tichy is one of a handful of independent coworking operators in Charlotte.

As coworking giants like WeWork take down big blocks of space in uptown towers, local groups are turning their attention to neighborhoods like South End, Belmont and west Charlotte, oftentimes taking less square footage and leasing space in buildings with more affordable rents.

Tichy views his coworking model as separate from national brands like WeWork and Industrious. The locations he selects don’t draw the same tenant mix. And Hygge leases to a mix of entrepreneurs and small companies — typically no more than five people — so revenue isn’t tied to a few large clients.

John Vieregg, who co-founded Interiors Marketplace in Atherton Mill in the early 1990s, recently opened CoCoTiv Coworking at 1515 Montford Park near Park Road Shopping Center.

He’s leasing about 13,000 square feet across the fourth floor. “Outside the central business district, there was nothing in the south Charlotte region (for coworking) so I saw a real void,” Vieregg said. “We don’t have the resources or the money to compete with WeWork and Industrious, but I think we can find niche markets.”

Another new operator, Dan Burdi, opened The Mill Coworking less than a month ago. His 1,700-square-foot space is in Atherton Mill Lofts in South End.

Burdi’s plan is to provide dedicated desks for solo entrepreneurs and established professionals who are seeking “heads down” space to get work done, rather than the frequent collaboration and networking among companies and entrepreneurs typically seen in coworking.

“I think, in a way, we can build stronger relationships here because it’s not 200 or 300 people,” Burdi said, adding he hopes to create a “small, tight-knit” community of entrepreneurs with low turnover at The Mill.

At CoCoTiv, Vieregg is developing a partnership with Pfeiffer University, which anchors the office building where he leases space. That effort could facilitate relationships between companies that work out of CoCoTiv and Pfeiffer students and faculty, with internships, project work and mentorships.

Vieregg said the bulk of his tenants are professionals in industries like real estate, insurance, accounting and law.

Both Vieregg and Burdi hope to organically grow their coworking ventures and perhaps replicate them elsewhere. Vieregg said he’s in talks to take another floor at 1515 Montford Park then will begin to look for space in places like NoDa, South End and farther out, like Ballantyne, Matthews, Belmont or Mount Holly.

Tichy said there’s potential in the market to do more niche spaces, directed at a certain industry or demographic, for example.

“I’m not super interested in building more general Hygge,” Tichy said. “I want to figure out ways to help other types of businesses that need shared workspace and people we don’t speak directly to all the time.”

Tichy also sees potential for bringing Hygge outside the Charlotte market, namely Asheville and the Triangle.

But, he said, another reason for Hygge’s success is rooted in how front-facing he’s been in Charlotte, something not easily done in other cities.

“We do a good job of humanizing space,” Tichy said. “Space is, to me, the least interesting thing we do but it’s the one amenity that everybody wants.”