WeWork has opened a new Irvine location near John Wayne Airport that it says is its largest coworking spot in Southern California.
The New York-based company, which inked several large local leases last year before internal struggles forced a pause in dealmaking, recently took the wraps off 18191 Von Karman Ave., a five-story building that’s part of the Lakeshore office complex a few blocks from the airport.
The building runs some 120,000 square feet; WeWork says it has just about all of that space to itself.
This marks the third area WeWork location to open in just as many months; its total Orange County presence now tops 500,000 square feet across nine buildings, making it the county’s largest coworking operator.
Half of that dealmaking was done last year.
“Our newest openings here in Orange County underscores the continued demand for flexible workspace as an offering for all companies in the market,” said Elton Kwok, general manager for WeWork California.
Expanding Office
The Business Journal was first to report on WeWork striking a lease for the Lakeshore building in October 2019; at the time only about 75,000 square feet of the building was committed to the firm; it has since taken over additional space as other existing tenants moved out.
WeWork says the Lakeshore location can accommodate 2,300 members across five full floors. Only a fraction of that amount of people is expected to occupy that space at any given time, given parking and occupancy constraints.
It marks the ninth area coworking location since WeWork entered the OC market in 2016.
Since that first opening, “the demand for the WeWork product has continued to grow year-over-year,” Kwok said.
“More than ever before, we have members growing within our spaces, from six-person offices all the way up to full-floor deals.”
Private offices at Lakeshore will run $830 a month, while less formal “hot desks” and use of the building’s shared common spaces will go for $430 a month, according to the company.
Tenant improvements for the property, owned by San Diego-based Sentre, have been ongoing in the past few months.
Tops for OC
The Lakeshore spot is a short walk from another recently opened location for the company, the 2211 Michelson building that’s part of the Von Karman Towers office complex next door.
That location can accommodate roughly 1,275 members across its 71,000 square feet, WeWork states. That works out to about 55 square feet per employee, roughly a third of what a typical office space can hold.
WeWork also recently opened a 51,714-square-foot location at the two-building Redstone Plaza in Newport Beach. That spot, owned by Lincoln Property Co., can accommodate nearly 800 members, it says.
By the end of last year, the company had a total of 740 locations across 140 cities and 37 countries, as well as 662,000 memberships, according to WeWork.
Another area WeWork lease that has yet to open will be the company’s second largest in Orange County.
The 116,000-square-foot deal is for the entirety of 17300 Laguna Canyon Drive at the first phase of the Spectrum Terrace development.
When that location opens, WeWork will have 623,423 square feet in its local portfolio.
On last year’s list of the top coworking companies, ranked by available square footage, Premier Workspaces was tops with nearly 471,000. At the time, WeWork had just 212,785 square feet in operation.
Coronavirus Update
As of early last week, WeWork reported having most of its domestic locations open, despite health concerns.
It had shut down, and subsequently reopened, locations in New York and Seattle after people at those locations tested positive for the coronavirus.
