[bctt tweet=”WeWork spent nearly a decade building up its reputation as being the most modern, hip way to transform commercial real estate, and it all vanished in just two months.” username=”allwork_space”]
Many critics have shared their thoughts on WeWork’s IPO saga, but its investors and industry experts’ whose opinions hold weight.
Dan Arends, Principal, co-chair of National Occupier Advisors group at Colliers International Chicago, said that landlords’ attitude towards WeWork will most definitely change after everything the public has learned of the company over the past few months.
“I think it will cause landlords who are considering them as an anchor or lead tenant in a building to reconsider,” said Arends. “Clients with membership agreements are already asking what happens if WeWork defaults, so the concern is very real. Just like landlords have exposure, so do the users with membership agreements that are using WeWork in multiple markets.”
Nick Clark, founder of Common Desk, said that WeWork postponing its IPO is a good thing for the office market, as it allows WeWork to correct its business model and gives other operators the chance to correct the industry as a whole.
Jeff Reinstein, CEO of Premier Workspaces, said that regardless of what happens to WeWork, the firm has created an awareness of the industry and changed the way landlords lease space.
Some experts believe that a year from now, the industry will be thanking WeWork for boosting interest in the market. Others believe that blame will shift away from former CEO Adam Neumann and onto SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son for investing billions into the company and giving it an outlandish valuation.
