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10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    1. Silicon Valley

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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%.

    2. Union Square, New York City

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    3. Miami

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    4. Seattle

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    5. Washington, DC

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    6. San Francisco

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    7. Los Angeles

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    8. Portland

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.

    9. Chicago

    WeWork Chicago

    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.

    10. Washington, DC (WeLive)

    10 Big WeWork Expansions In 2015

    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.