HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – The WeWork co-working organization has retained Transwestern Real Estate Services as part of a strategy to secure larger office tenants for its flexible workplace locations.
“While WeWork will remain a home for anyone looking for a single desk, we are dedicated to accommodating the needs of midsize to larger tenants, as well,” said Jeff Bodenman, Texas Portfolio Director at WeWork. “We are incredibly enthusiastic about partnering with Transwestern on this endeavor.”
WeWork’s strategy of finding larger corporate tenants appears to be rolling out across the nation. Engaging large, established commercial real estate firm will enhance WeWork’s reach into the corporate envirornment.
The Dallas Morning News reported Thursday that WeWork has retained the JLL commercial real estate firm to lease its eight co-working locations in the Dallas area, which contain a total of 517,583 SF.
In Houston, Transwestern will support leasing efforts for 298,751 SF of WeWork office space in four separate buildings in Houston’s Downtown, Galleria and The Woodlands submarkets. Transwestern’s Agency Leasing team will help WeWork target tenants with space needs ranging from 1,000 SF to 60,000 SF.
WeWork offers up to 50,000 square feet of contiguous space in Houston and has immediate availability at the following properties: Downtown’s 609 Main and The Jones Building at 708 Main; Galleria Office Tower I at 2700 Post Oak Blvd; and 1725 Hughes Landing in The Woodlands.
“We are excited to partner with WeWork to offer the ultimate flexibility and convenience in office space, giving tenants the opportunity to grow, shrink, densify or de-densify for terms of one to 10 years,” said Kristen Baker, Leasing Associate at Transwestern. “Additionally, these spaces include high-quality furniture, cabling and internet at competitive rental rates.”
The pandemic damaged the co-working sector around the globe. WeWork scaled back rapidly as the office market declined. WeWork, a pioneer in the co-working sector, closed a number of its facilities and laid off employees.
“As of December 2020, WeWork successfully exited 106 pre-open or underperforming locations and executed over 100 lease amendments for rent reductions, deferrals, or tenant improvement allowances resulting in an estimated $4.0 billion reduction in future lease payments. After its strategic asset exits, WeWork retains an unmatched scale and value proposition worldwide with 851 locations in 152 cities, totaling more than one million workstations., WeWork said in a recent report.
WeWork, recently announced it has agreed to merge with BowX Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, of SPAC.
This will result in WeWork becoming a publicly traded company. The transaction values WeWork at an initial enterprise value of $9 billion. The transaction will provide WeWork with $1.3 billion of cash which will enable the company to fund its growth plans into the future. WeWork attempted to go public a couple of years ago, but that fell through. After Covid hit, WeWork scaled back rapidly as the office market declined. WeWork closed a number of its facilities and laid off employees.
Founded in 2010 with the vision to create environments where people and companies came together to accomplish their best work, WeWork has 800 locations globally, in 35 countries with 400 of those in the US and Canada. Notable tenants include Vroom, Compass and Standard Charter Bank in Houston and IMB, Microsoft, and Slack Globally.
April 8, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
File: WeWork Hires Transwestern in New Strategy to Attract Larger Tenants
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Photo courtesy Transwestern