WeWork’s Expansion

Coworking giant WeWork, which is still recovering from the bankruptcy its last CEO famously drove it into, is expanding its reach via a new partnership. Read all the details. Also for today: How lesser-known technology firms are driving the sector’s office leasing in Manhattan.

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— Tom Acitelli, Deputy Editor

WeWork CEO John Santora Charts Expansion With Vast Coworking Group Pact

WeWork is often credited for blazing a trail in the coworking industry, and as it emerges from Chapter 11 it is taking a page from those it influenced. The company, co-founded by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey, had seen much better days before the pandemic, growing to a size that would prove to be unwieldy. But now that WeWork has shed hundreds of leases and debt that was dragging it down, CEO John Santora is getting the company back out there with a new partnership, Commercial Observer has learned. WeWork may not be physically putting locations in new markets, but it is partnering with Vast Coworking Group to make its booking software available in Vast’s franchises across the U.S. and Canada. The partnership will allow WeWork members to book space in one of Vast’s 75 locations without actually being a Vast member.

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Smaller Footprints and Smaller Firms Drive Tech Sector’s Renewed NYC Office Leasing

As recently as a year ago, any search for signs of optimism regarding the relationship between technology firms and the New York City office market would’ve turned up a “404: Not Found” message. Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, which held leases for over 2 million square feet of office space in the city, laid off 1,700 workers as it shrunk its New York office portfolio by over 700,000 square feet. Yelp, Spotify, Twitter, Uber and Microsoft also jettisoned significant space in the last few years. But, over the past year, it has begun to look like the tech sector’s office play might be rebooting. Palantir and Stripe both signed leases in Manhattan this year of at least 140,000 square feet. Fintech companies Ramp and Pinwheel both agreed to sizable Manhattan leases in the past few weeks — in Ramp’s case, a 66,000-square-foot expansion to 132,000 feet — and artificial intelligence juggernaut OpenAI inked a 90,000-square-foot lease in early October for its first New York office. In Brooklyn as well, open source electronics manufacturer Adafruit Industries took 42,000 square feet at Industry City.

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