10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015
One of the biggest stories of 2015 was WeWork's crazy valuations—from $1.5B in 2014 to a reported $20B by the end of 2015. And the company's growing its real estate as well, almost doubling its locations over the past year. Here are some of WeWork's recent expansions.
Address: Towers @2nd, 75 E Santa Clara St, San Jose
SF: 70k to 90k
Date Announced: November 2015
WeWork is looking to plant its first Silicon Valley flag with these downtown San Jose towers. The move puts WeWork in direct competition with Silicon Valley's current go-to co-workers, Nextspace. The deal's a huge win for building owners Investco and Harvest, slicing vacancy from 46% to under 30%.
Address: 88 University Place in Union Square
SF: 94k
Date Announced: Fall 2015
After signing its lease with the building—whose owners just scored a $70M loan for the property—WeWork will offer the first eight floors to companies. Neumann & Co plans to eventually expand its lease to the entire building. Demand for Big Apple co-working space is red-hot at the moment, with WeWork battling for market share with companies like General Assembly, Fueled Collective and Projective Space.
Address: The Security Building at 117 NE First Ave
SF: 96.5k
Date Announced: October 2015
The company snatched up this entire 16-floor office building in a 15-year lease this year—opening its second location in the Miami market. The deal went down after the property was bought this summer for $25M by Andrew Joblon, Daniel Gohari, Rory Greenberg and Ricky Weisfisch. Florida's coding boot camp, Wynwood Academy, will move in to WeWork's Miami Beach location to train the next generation of tech superstars.
Address: Westlake Tower, 1601 5th Ave
SF: 32k
Date Announced: December 2015
Seattle is a hot market for WeWork. The opening marks its third location in the city in just as many years. The new spot will boost its Seattle capacity by 600 member—to 2,000 total. Seattle WeWorkers range from fast-growing startups like Unikrn and Ranku to heavyweights Microsoft Ventures and Red Bull.
Address: The Apollo, H Street NE
SF: 26k
Date Reported: April 2015
It's apparently not all stiffs working in cubicles in our nation's capital, because WeWork is about to reach four locations there. The company is eyeing a sweet pad in DC's Atlas district, where it could share digs with independent coffee shop Wydown. Not a bad roommate for a business tailored to the Millennial office worker.
Address: 995 Market St
SF: 65k
Date Announced: March 2015
Bisnow got the first scoop on this deal to expand WeWork's San Francisco digs, as tech mammoths like Yahoo are going backwards in that same market. The search engine has turned one of its most important development sites into a parking lot for the San Francisco 49ers. Office rents in S.F. just trumped Manhattan's monster rates, powered by a tech sector surge. Not the worst piece of news for office leasing companies.
Address: 555 W Fifth St
SF: 90k
Date Announced: August 2015
LA is another goldmine for WeWork, with five locations opening since 2011. JLL brokered the sweet new spot, and word on the street is they're adding 30k SF of floor space in Santa Monica. And speaking of Santa Monica, residents just voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, potentially raising the company's overhead—depending on how they decide to hire, of course.
Address: US Custom House at 220 NW Eighth Ave
SF: 78.8k
Date Announced: April 2015
With an industry disruptor like WeWork, it may come as a surprise that the first office space in the hipster heartland only came to fruition this year. Portland is another city pushing towards higher wages, which may or may not affect its dealings in the hipster capital. Nevertheless, members can still take full advantage of the city of craft beer through their free cerveza station at the office.
Address: 112 S Clark St
SF: 112k
Date Announced: January 2016
The shared-office space pioneer just leased the former HQ of Chicago Public Schools—competing with 80 co-working companies for a share of Chicago's office market. Blue Star Properties bought the 20-floor building in February for $28M. The lease adds another historic site to WeWork's list; the building is over a century old. WeWork holds a monster total of 306k SF in office space in the Windy City alone.
Address: 2221 South Clark St, Crystal City
SF: 216 Flats, 300 to 315 SF each
Date Announced: September 2015
The co-working giant is branching out into residential, partnering with Vornado Realty to create 216 rental residential units as part of a $40M redevelopment plan to put "WeLive" smack on top of its normal co-working space. The plan is to lease 300 SF micro-units with high-end amenities and large communal spaces, similar to its co-working concept.
