Cushman & Wakefield has made a $150 million strategic investment in global flexible space provider WeWork.
As part of the investment, Cushman & Wakefield’s Chief Investment Officer & EVP of Strategic Planning, Nathaniel Robinson, will serve as an observer to WeWork’s board of directors.
The two companies recently announced an exclusive strategic partnership to create new offerings for real estate owners and occupiers.
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 use of WeWork’s proprietary 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 they have demonstrated their ability to build a tenant experience that people are drawn to, and they’ve 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,” he added.
“Cushman & Wakefield is our strategic partner as we expand our ability to provide tenants and landlords with the technology and hospitality expertise to power flexible space solutions within their own portfolios. As flexibility has become a priority for real estate decision makers around the world, we are excited to bring the WeWork product to Cushman & Wakefield’s extensive network,” said Sandeep Mathrani, CEO of WeWork.