Adam Neumann, Michael Ovitz, and 9830 Wilshire Boulevard (Credit: Getty Images)
WeWork will open its first Beverly Hills location at the former Creative Artists Agency building on Wilshire Boulevard, The Real Deal has learned.
Sources said the company is close to inking a deal to occupy the entire 70,000-square-foot property, which is owned by former CAA executives Michael Ovitz and Robert Goldman.
Located at 9830 Wilshire Boulevard, the four-story building was designed by prolific architect I.M. Pei, best known for the iconic glass and steel pyramids at the Louvre museum in Paris. There’s also an expansive mural by American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein in the property’s central atrium. Other amenities include a 94-seat screening room and underground parking lot.
A representative for WeWork declined to comment. The owners of the building could not be reached.
The deal comes on the heels of two other major expansions by the co-working giant.
Last month, TRD reported that WeWork is in advanced discussions to occupy Hudson Pacific Properties’ Maxwell Coffee redevelopment project in the Arts District. Shortly after, the firm announced it is opening a new 116,000-square-foot location at 3000 Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica.
Its newest location in Beverly Hills, however, marks the first in the neighborhood.
Cushman & Wakefield has been marketing the property for lease since Sony Music vacated the site over a year ago. Sony left the prime location to relocate to the Sony Pictures Studio Lot in Culver City, a 45-acre campus that now holds the firm’s television, movie and music operations.
Ovitz and Goldman bought the Beverly Hills property in the late 1980s. Ovitz was the former CAA chairman and co-founder, while Goldman was CAA’s former CFO. They relocated the mega-successful talent agency to its Century City headquarters at Avenue of the Stars in 2007, after Sony inked a 10-year deal.
The deal would mark WeWork’s 21st location in Los Angeles County.
The latest acquisition comes as WeWork, which recently rebranded to “The We Company,” recently suffered a major setback after its main investor, Softbank, said it would be drastically reducing its investment in the firm. The Japanese conglomerate plans to invest $2 billion in We, down from a planned $16 billion. Softbank has committed $10 billion to WeWork since 2017.
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