WeWork cuts deals to save operations in two NYC locations

Company reaches agreements at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Union Square

WeWork Salvages Operations at Two New York Locations
WeWork CEO David Tolley with 71 Fifth Avenue and Dock 72 in Brooklyn (WeWork, Google Maps, Dock 72)

WeWork has reached agreements with landlords at Dock 72 in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and 71 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Union Square, Crain’s reported.

The company will continue operations at both locations, in the second and third agreements the company has reached with New York City landlords since declaring bankruptcy.

It has been unclear until now where WeWork would continue operating when bankruptcy proceedings wind to a close. The company has already canceled more than three dozen leases across the city and has a long battle ahead to remain afloat.

Boston Properties’ and Rudin Management’s Dock 72 is Brooklyn’s first ground-up office development in a decade. 

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WeWork occupies 200,000 square feet and came in as the building’s anchor tenant in 2019. The company also agreed then to provide programming to other tenants. The company stopped paying rent after filing for bankruptcy, BXP said in a November earnings call.

Specifics aren’t publicly known, but WeWork is set to pay discounted rent at Dock 72 and hold a shorter lease term, though it appears it will hold on to all of its space. WeWork also isn’t paying back rent accumulated during bankruptcy.

The building has had a busy week, with Pratt Institute agreeing to take 63,000 square feet across a full floor.

Meanwhile, at Madison Capital’s 71 Fifth Avenue, WeWork is decreasing both its space and its rent. Prior to the agreement, WeWork leased 73,000 square feet at the Union Square property, occupying more than 40 percent of the rentable square footage. Unlike at Brooklyn Navy Yard, WeWork is set to honor more than $600,000 in unpaid rent at 71 Fifth Avenue.

The only other WeWork lease in the city to be restructured up until this point came at CIM Group and QSuper’s 1440 Broadway in Times Square. It is continuing to operate 300,000 square feet at the location, though both lease term and rent were reduced across its ten floors, which are mostly leased to Amazon.

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