Another day, another new lease for WeWork.
The co-working giant is leasing all 139,000 square feet of office space at 609 Fifth Avenue from SL Green Realty, according to the New York Post. Asking rent was $85 per square foot, and WeWork will begin occupying the building in November.
SL Green had previously served as a lender to the building’s prior owner Jeff Sutton but bought him out a few years ago. The building is now completely vacant after SL Green negotiated relocations and buyouts for its office tenants, and the strategy was sparked by American Girl planning to leave the building at the end of its lease.
The American Girl store moved to 75 Rockefeller Plaza, creating an opportunity to revamp 609 Fifth Avenue’s ground level space. Puma is taking over the doll store’s former retail space at the building.
WeWork announced in September that it had become Manhattan’s largest office tenant with 5.3 million square feet of space. It’s other recent leases include 117,000 square feet at Midtown’s 575 Lexington Avenue, 100,000 square feet at 35 East 21st Street in the Flatiron District and 60,000 square feet at 511 West 25th Street in Chelsea.
SoftBank is reportedly in talks to take a majority stake in WeWork, which could be up to $20 billion. [NYP] – Eddie Small