Cushman & Wakefield Expands Partnership with WeWork

Fresh off its recent IPO, WeWork found a strategic investor in its co-working office business plan in Cushman & Wakefield.

Cushman & Wakefield is investing $150 million in the company, while C&W’s Chief Investment Officer & EVP of Strategic Planning, Nathaniel Robinson, will serve as an Observer to WeWork’s Board of Directors.

WeWork began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 21.

The two companies recently announced an exclusive strategic partnership combining WeWork’s hospitality and technology-enabled services with Cushman & Wakefield’s asset and facilities management services. In the time since that announcement, the firms have reported a positive reception from major institutional real estate owners and Fortune 500 occupiers, leading to early pilot program opportunities.

Corporate occupiers have also been very focused on managing the employee experience as workers return to the office. While Cushman & Wakefield has served the tech industry for years, where facilities management has regularly been positioned as a critical link to managing employee engagement, the new partnership with WeWork now creates similar opportunities with Fortune 500 occupiers across all sectors.

“More than ever, property owners are looking for a competitive advantage to drive tenant demand for their offices,” Marla Maloney, President of Asset Services at Cushman & Wakefield said in prepared remarks. “Meanwhile, today’s office worker has elevated expectations for a workplace experience that is convenient and customizable, while allowing them to build community with other workers. Even in the early days of this partnership, we’re seeing many opportunities to scale the ‘WeWork experience’ much like we scale our traditional building management services.”

The partnership will also help grow WeWork’s new landlord and tenant-focused offerings through two initiatives. The first initiative will focus on helping building owners and corporate occupiers improve the daily user experience through the use of WeWork’s software that will integrate traditional building features like access control and reservation systems with onsite hospitality and amenity programming. 

The same technology will also provide access to critical asset usage data, guiding capital investments to support leasing, tenant or employee retention, operational efficiency, ESG/energy goals and, ultimately, return on investment.

The second initiative will allow owners to create new revenue streams by operating flexible workspace centers within their portfolio. Over time, as those tenants grow out of the flex space, Cushman & Wakefield’s leasing and project management teams will be able to convert tenants into more traditional office space, within the same building.

“WeWork is recognized as an innovator in our industry because it has demonstrated its ability to build a tenant experience that people are drawn to, and it has been a pioneer in using technology to efficiently manage that experience and the office space around it,” said Brett White, Executive Chairman & CEO of Cushman & Wakefield. 

“Through this partnership, Cushman & Wakefield will scale WeWork’s technology offerings around tenant experience beyond their own branded spaces into the rest of the office market, giving our clients access to leading data and insights that drive optimal workplace experience and return on investment.”