Though lingering questions about WeWork’s locations in Orange County—and its operations across the country at large—remain since its initial public offering plans fell apart this fall, the company insists it is business as usual with regard to spots it plans to open here.
The New York-based coworking firm this month opened its first Newport Beach location at the 100 Bayview Circle office complex.
The 51,500-square-foot lease is the first of the company’s spots to open locally since WeWork’s bungled IPO plans, and the resulting fallout.
All other previously reported OC locations that the company has in the works, but has yet to open, are still opening, the company said in a statement.
First Newport Spot
WeWork is the fastest-growing coworking landlord in Orange County with roughly 350,000 square feet in operation, with another 300,000 square feet expected to open by next year.
Its Newport Beach location is the company’s sixth in the area. A company press release said that roughly 800 members can use the space; at about 65 square feet per worker that level is unlikely on a full-time basis.
The six-story, 346,335-square-foot Bayview Circle office is near the intersection of Jamboree Road and South Bristol Street, and about 2 miles from John Wayne Airport.
It’s owned by Plano, Texas-based real estate investor Granite Properties, which paid about $125.6 million for the property last September.
Kley Sippel, general manager for WeWork in Southern California, said the company has “experienced increasing demand” since entering OC, “and we look forward to seeing the creative and entrepreneurial workforce in Newport flourish in our space.”
Optimistic Signs
At the time it announced the opening of the Bayview Circle spot, WeWork prominently listed four additional spots as “opening soon,” including its largest planned spot in the area: a 116,300-square-foot, full-building lease at the just-built Spectrum Terrace complex (see story, page 1).
Other forthcoming WeWork locations include a second in Newport Beach, a 51,714-square-foot lease at 4041 MacArthur Blvd., and two more in Irvine, close to the airport.
Questions of the company’s future viability have been building since the departure of CEO Adam Neumann and a number of other executives, and bankruptcy speculation of the 9-year-old firm, which this summer had an internal valuation of $47 billion as it prepped to go public, but now is valued at closer to $8 billion following an investment from main financial backer SoftBank.
Landlords are still expressing optimism on the coworking trend, and have previously shared positive track records for the WeWork locations that are already open.
