WeWork Opening 15K-SF Tenant Lounge at 575 Lexington Avenue
By Mark Hallum July 10, 2024 12:12 pm
reprints![John Santora and a WeWork tenant lounge.](https://commercialobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/07/santoraandtenantlounge.jpg?quality=80&w=755)
WeWork (WE) is diversifying its offerings as it makes a clean break from its former financial troubles.
The coworking giant will turn its space on the 14th floor of 575 Lexington Avenue into a tenant lounge, in what seems to be a first for the company, WeWork announced Wednesday.
Designed for the “flexible work era,” the 15,000-square-foot space in the building owned by George Comfort & Sons and Cannon Hill Capital Partners will be dedicated to networking and social events, and will feature meeting rooms, an outdoor terrace and a coffee bar, according to WeWork, which exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early June.
“Today’s workforce is drawn to buildings that offer flexible workspaces and exceptional service, all in a convenient and accessible location,” George Comfort CEO Peter Duncan said in a statement. “The WeWork-operated amenity space will help enhance the daily experience of our current tenant base and drive future demand from companies in the market for a high-quality office environment.”
The tenant lounge will be available not only to WeWork clients but also to employees of all tenants in the 35-story, 745,000-square-foot office tower on Lexington Avenue between East 51st and 52nd streets. Those tenants include Weill Cornell Medicine, which tripled its footprint to 300,000 square feet in October.
Aside from a shift from offering its amenities just to its clients, WeWork also turned over a new leaf in leadership recently. David Tolley left the company as CEO in June with Cushman & Wakefield’s John Santora taking over the leadership role. That’s despite the best efforts of ousted founder Adam Neumann to reclaim the company through offers to buy it out of bankruptcy.
Mark Hallum can be reached at mhallum@commercialobserver.com.