The ink is barely dry on WeWork’s deal to buy the Lord & Taylor building in Midtown, but the co-working giant is already in talks to buy its next trophy property.
WeWork agreed to buy the Blackstone Group’s London office complex Devonshire Square for around $785 million, Bloomberg reported.
The British East India Company developed the 12-building, 620,000-square-foot campus between 1768 and 1820. Blackstone bought it in 2012 for around 340 million pounds, or around $450 million, and renovated it.
WeWork plans to take over the management of the entire complex and hired Eastdil Secured to find an acquisition loan. The co-working giant leases its properties, but earlier this year it launched a real estate investment fund in partnership with private equity firm Rhone Group to buy buildings outright.
On Tuesday, news broke that WeWork and Rhone agreed to buy the Lord & Taylor building in Midtown for $850 million. [Bloomberg] — Konrad Putzier