This is the first I've heard of the coworking movement--it reminds me a bit of the hacker/maker-space trend. It seems robust in theory, but I can see the execution being tricky. I would think that owning the space is the safest, though not the easiest, way to go about establishing one of these spaces.
Coworking is freaking magical for the solopreneur. Sitting at home on your couch typing on a laptop is only going to get you to about $2k/month, if you REALLY work at it. There's only so much money people will pay someone, when their office is a coffee shop. In a coworking space, the energy and vibe of the space just makes money fall outta the sky. Think of it: If you work for yourself, and you don't want to work today, you don't go in to the coworking space and faff about on Facebook, or go into YouTube spirals. Instead, you stay home, or go to a coffee shop. So a coworking space FEELS different... the air is spicy with energy and productivity. People are there because they are WORKING. When the productivity stops, they leave. Being in that kind of electrically-productive environment stimulates the brain cells, and makes you hyper-productive. AND, it gives you an office where you have a conference room, and a secretary, and a printer, and you can meet clients and do presentations, and brainstorm on whiteboards. You can't do that in a coffee shop. Coworking is brilliant. Took my business from about $1000-$1500/month to more than $5k/month. Made ME better. More confident. More professional. More productive. I'm a fan. Can you tell? =>