WeWork is expanding in the Midtown office building where it is hosting Amazon.
The co-working provider signed a 60,000-square-foot lease expansion at 2 Herald Square, the company told The Real Deal. The additional space covers the fifth and sixth floors and is expected to open in 2020. The company currently occupies 124,000 square feet in the 11-story building.
The entirety of WeWork’s space in the property is leased to Amazon. The online retailer was also reportedly negotiating to take part of the retail space in the 354,000-square-foot building. WeWork declined to comment on whether Amazon, which is bringing 25,000 workers to New York as part of its HQ2, will be occupying the expansion space.
SL Green, along with an unidentified Israeli partner, acquired the leasehold for the property last May. The firm obtained the interest while it was in the process of foreclosing on the building. The previous owners, the Sitt family’s Sitt Asset Management, lost control of the property after a legal feud between Eddie Sitt and his brothers Ralph and David.
“We have an excellent relationship with SL Green and look forward to continuing our work with them to make this building a leading hub for companies wanting to be based in the area.” said Granit Gjonbalaj, WeWork’s chief real estate development officer.
WeWork now has a valuation of $45 billion after an additional $3 billion investment from Japanese firm SoftBank. The company is now the world’s second most valuable startup, behind Uber at $60 billion.
The transaction adds to WeWork’s deals this month. Last week, the company closed 95,500 square feet of leases for its HQ by WeWork segment . It also took 106,320 square feet at Winter Properties’ 57 East 11th Street and Epic’s 148 Lafayette Street.