Another WeWork Bites The Dust In The Financial District

WeWork has walked away from a Financial District location as it works to shrink its crushing rent burden.

The coworking company has closed its 56K SF space at 83 Maiden Lane. WeWork leased the location in 2019, but the space is no longer listed on its website. It is listed on Google as permanently closed.

WeWork signed an exit agreement in late 2022 as part of its ongoing strategy to cut back on underperforming locations, a company spokesperson said. The building is owned by the nonprofit AHRC NYC.

The space, on the third through sixth floors of the property, has been put up for a direct lease, according to Colliers Executive Managing Director of Research Franklin Wallach, citing CoStar's database.

A representative for AHRC, which has its headquarters at the 170K SF building, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. 

“We've been hearing conversations ... about WeWork and their landlords, and we continue to see space come onto the market. Just within the first few days of October, we've already seen a few former WeWork spaces come on to market as direct space,” Wallach told Bisnow. “That could very well reverse this trend of moderating or tightening supply.”

WeWork inked the 56K SF deal at 83 Maiden Lane at the height of its leasing fever in 2019, per Commercial Observer. The deal was for 15 years, and asking rent was $44 per SF.

WeWork shuttered its 86K SF "Charging Bull" location nearby at 25 Broadway in 2021.

Meanwhile, at 35 East 21st St., some 81K SF that was previously occupied by WeWork has become available for rent, Wallach said. 

Landlord Centaur Properties inked a 100K SF, full-building deal with WeWork in 2018.

That space was set to be for HQ by WeWork, a division the company established in an effort to target midsized companies. The location isn't listed on its website, which had a listing for the property as recently as February, according to the Internet Archive.

A Centaur Properties official didn't respond as of press time. A WeWork spokesperson declined to comment on the status of the location.

WeWork occupied more than 8.6M SF of office space in Manhattan as of this summer, according to Avison Young data. Nearly two-thirds of that space was in Class-B or C buildings like 83 Maiden Lane and 35 East 21st St. 

The deals WeWork made in its heyday remain the company's biggest hurdle to overcome and avoid a bankruptcy.

In August, WeWork said in a regulatory filing there was “substantial doubt” over its ability to stay afloat. Later that month, it reportedly hired real estate advisers and lawyers to counsel it on how to restructure and stay out of bankruptcy court.

WeWork said last month that it would begin negotiating its leases around the world with plans to get better terms and leave locations that haven't performed well.

"We intend to stay in the majority of our buildings and our markets," interim CEO David Tolley said in a statement.

This week, it announced it is withholding interest payments totaling about $95M, a strategy sometimes employed by corporate debtors in the process of renegotiating terms. An analysis by Trepp found 112 CMBS loans with a total balance of $9.5B with exposure to WeWork.

However, some landlords are fighting back. Last month, DivcoWest sued WeWork for $30M after it dropped its location at 311 West 43rd St., The Real Deal reported.