WeWork Takes 89 KSF at Florida’s Tallest Office Building

Southeast Financial Center. Image courtesy of JLL

WeWork has inked a deal for 89,300 square feet in Miami at Southeast Financial Center, the tallest and largest office tower in Florida. The coworking giant negotiated with Ponte Gadea Biscayne, owner of the approximately 1.2 million-square-foot tower.

WeWork’s new space will span four full floors at 200 S. Biscayne Blvd. in downtown Miami. The landlord has owned the trophy office asset since purchasing it for $516 million in 2016. With its new commitment at the iconic property, WeWork, which has had a presence in Miami since 2015, now has 750,000 square feet of existing and announced locations in the city.

“With the world’s preeminent coworking provider displaying heavy interest and confidence in our region, we believe that the coworking sector as a whole will play a heavy role in shaping the future of Miami’s office market,” Jeffrey Gordon, vice president with JLL, told Commercial Property Executive. “Miami was recently ranked first in the country for coworking and we expect to see significant deals such as WeWork’s Southeast Financial Center lease to become even more prevalent moving forward.”

Gordon and JLL Managing Director Matthew Goodman represented WeWork in the transaction, while JLL Executive Vice President Eric Groffman and Managing Director Donald Cartwright stood in for the ownership.

Cross-country coworking

During the first quarter of 2019, coworking transactions totaled 5.4 million square feet in the U.S. office market, according to a JLL report, marking the second consecutive quarter that coworking led office leasing activity. The execution of coworking leases across the country has continued at a rapid pace during the second quarter as well.

WeWork recently inked a bevy of leases in various metro markets, including four agreements accounting for more than 110,000 square feet in Manhattan and two more totaling 75,000 square feet in San Antonio. CommonGrounds Workplace leased 31,800 square feet at 1100 Dexter Building in Seattle’s South Lake Union submarket and Spaces signed on for just over 51,000 square feet at the former SunTrust Bank building in Miami Beach.