How the Office Market Finally Came to WeWork

The WeWork story has been told so many times and in so many formats, including documentaries, books, podcasts, and business school case studies. What has got far less attention is what has happened after the bankruptcy. That WeWork has retooled in a way that makes it well suited for the office market that it finds itself in.

The office market’s defining dynamic right now is the flight to quality. Tenants have been concentrating demand in the newest, most amenitized, most sustainably certified buildings at the expense of older commodity stock, and that concentration has compressed available supply at the top of the market in ways that are creating real pressure for companies that need premium office space on shorter timelines than a conventional lease typically allows. New office development has slowed dramatically, with completions projected to fall to roughly five million square feet nationally by 2027, a fraction of the historical average. Good offices in good buildings in good markets are genuinely hard to find, and the process of building out a new one is slow, expensive, and operationally complex...   ...more

RSK: Good to see that WeWork's niche has synced with market demands. Will it last?