WeWork closes doors at downtown Durham location, downsizes to two Triangle locations
Coworking giant WeWork will reduce its footprint in the Triangle by the end of the year with the departure of one its three office locations in the area.
The pandemic isn’t to blame for the decision, the company said in a statement to The News & Observer, since plans to downsize its real estate were in the works beforehand.
That location is in Durham I.D., a pair of newly built office mid-rises of over 330,000 square feet at the intersection of Hunt and Morris streets in downtown Durham.
The company is consolidating its presence to its Durham location at One City Center, a 27-story mixed-use building overlooking the iconic bull statue in its downtown core as part of a plan to maintain profits across its real estate portfolio.
“WeWork remains committed to the long-term success of our two locations across the Raleigh-Durham market and we continue to focus on providing companies of all sizes with the flexible workspace they need,” said Dave McLaughlin, vice president of WeWork’s East Coast locations, in a statement.
The coworking industry giant has been reducing its global real estate portfolio this year after its aggressive growth in previous years left it stuck with debts and leases, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Durham I.D. owner Bain Capital Real Estate and developer Longfellow Real Estate Partners approached WeWork about the transfer of real estate, according to Elizabeth Thomas, managing director at Bain Capital.
Bain Capital paid $138 million for Durham I.D. in July in one of the biggest local commercial real estate transactions in the pandemic, The News & Observer reported.
“Knowing WeWork had another Durham location, we approached them to see if they would be interested in exploring an exit from the property,” Thomas said in an email statement.
Office tenants at Durham I.D. have been offered equivalent spaces at the nearby WeWork locations of One City Center and One Glenwood in downtown Raleigh, a company spokesperson said in separate statement.
“The Triangle region will continue to be an important market for WeWork. With new companies steadily moving to the region and local businesses seeing tremendous growth, WeWork is fully focused on strengthening our core business here and serving our growing community,” said a spokesperson in an email.
“There are no additional plans to alter our operations here and we are fully committed to providing our Members with well-designed, flexible workspace.”
