WeWork Signs 55 KSF Manhattan Lease

WeWork has signed a lease for 55,000 square feet at 245 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan. The new location is expected to open in mid-2026 and will include four floors of the 304,537-square-foot building, the second and the fourth, fifth and sixth. Newmark represented both parties.

The new space will replace an expiring lease, WeWork CEO John Santora said in a statement. That location is at 27 E. 28th St., where the company originally committed to 108,000 square feet in 2014.

WeWork’s new location will comprise various space types, including dedicated private offices, meeting rooms and a coworking lounge.

The lease is the second in New York for WeWork since emerging from bankruptcy last year. In July, the company signed a lease for 60,000 square feet at 250 Broadway in Manhattan’s Financial District.

A century-old Manhattan building

Thor Equities acquired a controlling interest in the property at 245 Fifth Ave. from Goldman Sachs in 2011 for $161.5 million. The Moinian Group had purchased a minority ownership stake in 2007.

The 1927-vintage building, which features a recently renovated art deco lobby, is near public transit, hotels and restaurants. The 24-story tower, with floorplates ranging from 4,769 to 15,375 square feet, also includes 12,500 square feet of ground-floor retail, according to Yardi Research Data. Before the WeWork lease, the property was 38.3 percent vacant.

Newmark’s Scott Klau, Erik Harris, Zach Weil, Cole Gendel and Ben Klau represented the landlord in the deal. In addition, the firm’s Aaron Ellison and Travis Milone negotiated on behalf of the tenant.

Coworking sector stabilizes

The coworking sector is undergoing a period of consolidation, according to a CoworkingCafe report. Following a space expansion in the first quarter of 2025—an increase of 3 percent in coworking square footage—the U.S. coworking market appears to be moving away from the post-pandemic growth phase that characterized much of the last two years and toward a more measured footprint. In Q2 2025, the sector’s growth was only 0.3 percent.

Manhattan, which is still the nation’s largest coworking market by square footage, nevertheless saw its total footprint shrink by 4 percent during the second quarter. But the average size of its remaining spaces increased modestly, pointing to an industry pivot toward fewer, but larger and more high-end venues, CoworkingCafe reported.