WeWork has enlisted JLL to market and lease 38 of its coworking locations across seven cities across the country.
This partnership means JLL will act as “an extension of WeWork’s in-house sales team” across Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Denver, New York City, Phoenix and San Francisco.
“We are excited to work alongside JLL during this time of rapid change in the office environment,” said Shyam Gidumal, president and chief operating officer of WeWork. “JLL’s deep industry knowledge, experience, and relationships will enable us to connect with the expanding range of small to large enterprise tenants who can benefit from WeWork’s portfolio of flexible space offerings.”
With the return to the office heavily dependent on employee sentiment, vaccine distribution and the potential for new variants, the company is hoping to offer more flexibility for businesses during this uncertain time.
A recent JLL survey of 2,000 office workers found that two-thirds of respondents want to work from various locations after the pandemic, and office owners are looking to expand their space in order to accommodate this demand.
JLL also anticipates that the flex space market will one again grow during the second half of the year. While the large amount of sublease space is alarming for the market’s recovery, JLL Vice Chairman Clark Finney believes that WeWork is in the perfect position to address this.
“Subleases very rarely allow pass-through renewal options, expansion rights or similar considerations,” said Finney. “WeWork can address all of these concerns, and that is a major differentiator and demand driver in the current market.”