WeWork Forgoes Opening 10-Story Miami Location at 830 Brickell
The coworking firm plans to open two more Miami locations in its stead
By Julia Echikson July 21, 2022 1:48 pm
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WeWork has relinquished plans to open a location at Miami’s trophy office tower, 830 Brickell, Commercial Observer has learned.
The coworking company originally signed a 146,000-square-foot lease spanning 10 floors back in 2019, before the developers, OKO Group and Cain International, had even unveiled details for the office development. The planned outpost was going to be WeWork (WE)’s largest in Florida.
Fast forward to three years. Miami’s office market is taking off, so the developers have chosen to buy out WeWork’s lease, according to sources familiar with the deal. With rents at the tower going for upwards of $100 per square foot, the developers could probably nab better deals than the original WeWork agreement.
“There was an opportunity presented to WeWork structured in a way that made the company more than financially whole for the entire term of the lease,” one source said.
Earlier this month, WeWork took down a page on its website advertising the 830 Brickell outpost that had been online since at least 2019. Representatives for Cain International, Oko Group and WeWork have all declined to comment.
The 55-story development, which is expected to be completed later this year, is the first office tower erected in Miami in a decade. As high profile new-to-market companies flocked to the city since the pandemic hit, many settled at 830 Brickell. These included Microsoft as well as financial heavyweights Thoma Bravo and CI Financial, among others.
Just this week, Sidley Austin, one of the largest law firms in the country, inked a 60,000-square-foot lease for three floors at 830 Brickell. The property is nearly 70 percent leased and the landlords expect it to be fully leased by the end of the year.
The 640,000-square-foot development has garnered so much demand that its leasing agents — Cushman & Wakefield’s Brian Gale, Andrew Trench, and Ryan Holtzman — raised the asking rent to as much as $150 a square foot, a new high for Miami.
A number of high-profile developers, like Stephen Ross’ Related Companies, have launched competing office projects this year.
For WeWork, the move to forgo the Brickell outpost is somewhat surprising, given that Miami was its best-performing market during the first quarter of 2021, reaching 92 percent occupancy across its six locations.
But WeWork is not abandoning its expansion in the Magic City. The company is now in lease negotiations to open two new locations in the Miami market, per a source.
The success is in part due to new-to-market firms, including hedge fund Citadel, which have signed deals at coworking offices ahead of finding permanent bases. WeWork competitors, such as Industrious and NeueHouse, are opening outposts across South Florida.
Julia Echikson can be reached at jechikson@commercialobserver.com.
