WeWork plans to add third Vancouver space, reaching 3,800 desks
WeWork, the New York-based office co-working company, has signed a deal to add a third location to Vancouver.
The seven-year-old startup will take over five floors at 333 Seymour St., adding more than 1,100 desks to Vancouver’s quickly expanding co-working landscape.
The new space on Seymour is expected to open in September and will increase the total number of desks WeWork has in Vancouver to 3,800, the company said.
WeWork has been gobbling up office leases at a rate that probably has many traditional office landlords nervous. At the end of 2017, WeWork had 200,000 members globally, in 242 properties, in 71 cities and 21 countries, according to the figures the company provided to Postmedia.
Postmedia recently toured the 16th floor of WeWork’s new space at the Burrard Station tower at 595 Burrard St. in downtown Vancouver.
The co-working giant opened six floors in November in the building, and also has another six floors at nearby 555 Burrard.
WeWork has not been shy about the company ’s interest in expanding its footprint in Vancouver, which it says is its hottest western market.
“The demand dynamics in Vancouver are really strong,” said Gina Phillips, WeWork’s general manager for the Pacific Northwest. “We’ve had a really warm reception and I’ve been really surprised by how many people in Vancouver already know who we are even before we got here.
“Preparing to open our third WeWork location in Vancouver is a key example of that commitment,” she said in an email last week. “Through our growing presence in Vancouver and strong posture in both Seattle and Portland, we are well positioned to drive and provide a corridor of opportunity and innovation up and down the Northwest.”
Over the last year-and-a-half, downtown Vancouver’s office vacancy rate has dropped dramatically to five per cent.
“Every WeWork will feel similarly, and will have that buzz, but in terms of the finishes, the artwork — that’s a very intentional process based on the city,” Phillips said.
The new space will roll out some of its first iterations of WeWork Large Office, which is geared toward larger companies.
At 595 Burrard, a hot desk starts at $450 per month; a dedicated desk at $600; and a private office from $860 per month, according to WeWork’s online price list. For private offices for 21-50 seats, the price ranges from $17,450 to $19,650 per month.
PCI Developments is the landlord at 333 Seymour.
The deal with WeWork aligns with PCI Developments’ plans to foster the growth of a vibrant and collaborative environment in Vancouver, said Jarvis Roullard, the vice-president of acquisitions and leasing for PCI Developments.
“We look forward to a long and collaborative relationship with the WeWork team and their member clients,” he said.
Thought Exchange, a Ross land headquartered tech firm that creates business and customer net- working systems, plans to move out of its traditional office space at the United Kingdom Building at 409 Granville St. into a dedicated office at WeWork.
By July 1, the company’s 30 or so Vancouver staff will move into space at one of WeWork’s Burrard Street locations, and then transition to 333 Seymour when renovations are completed this fall, said Jeff Davis, ThoughtExchange’s COO and CFO.
“Flexibility is really important to us,” said Davis, noting that they have 120 staff spread out in offices in Vancouver, Spokane, Port Moody and Rossland. “We’re planning to grow substantially in the next year, but we don’t know exactly what that growth is going to look like and when it’s going to happen.”
That’s what is attractive about co-working space, he said: scalability and flexibility.
He said they will occupy a dedicated office space with three private meeting rooms at WeWork.
“Form a staff perspective, WeWork is a nice space,” he said. “It has a good energy. That energy I think comes from the fact that it’s physically nice. It has good facilities. It has nice common areas. There are people from other companies there, and there are other companies that are hoping to achieve growth as we are.”
He said traditional office spaces, especially for millennials, can feel isolating.
“We think it connects us to the community and it could lead to relationships, it could lead to more customers and it could lead to new relationships which could attract talent,” he said.
Davis said it will also be nice not to worry about office logistics.
“It doesn’t have to be me fixing the coffee machine,” he said.
“Our office is a nice space, but it’s traditional and conservative,” Davis said, adding that they plan to sublease their space once they’ve vacated.