WeWork continues mid-size tenant push with 4 new Manhattan outposts

Clockwise from top left: 49 West 27th Street, 185 Madison Avenue , 546 Fifth Avenue, 29 West 30th Street (Credit: Google Maps)

WeWork has signed a handful of new leases for its growing mid-size tenant business.

HQ by WeWork, which launched last August to provide office space for companies with 11 to 250 employees, is taking 165,000 square feet across six locations in New York and San Francisco, the company said Wednesday.

In New York, the co-working company signed leases for 41,200 square feet at Chestnut Holding’s 49 West 27th Street; 28,500 square feet at Hilson Management Corp.’s 185 Madison Avenue; 20,270 square feet at Safra National Bank’s 546 Fifth Avenue; and 19,500 square feet at the Kash Group’s 29 West 30th Street.

Granit Gjonbalaj, the company’s chief real estate development officer, said HQ By WeWork sites have previously opened at 100 percent occupancy. The search for the company’s new real estate sites has been led by Arash Gohari, WeWork’s executive vice president.

It also signed leases for two other sites in San Francisco, taking 47,673 square feet at Pollock Financial Group’s 340 Bryant Street and 8,396 square feet at Irving Rabin’s 731 Sansome Street.

Since it launched six months ago, HQ By WeWork provides spaces — sometimes entire floor plates — to companies, without any WeWork branding. The shared-space provider operates under its recently rebranded parent company, The We Company.

At the time of the HQ division’s launch, a spokesperson said the company had agreed to lease 440,000 square feet and was in negotiations for another 550,000 square feet. A few of its other Manhattan locations include 490 Broadway, 149 Fifth Avenue, 115 East 23rd Street, 38 West 21st Street, 8 West 40th Street and 13-15 West 27th Street.

A report released on Wednesday stated that The We Company’s CEO Adam Neumann was still making millions off of his investments in buildings that have WeWork as a tenant. In a prospectus from last year, the company said that it paid $12 million between 2016 and 2017 to buildings “partially owned by officers” of WeWork.