Bankrupt WeWork to Immediately Dump 40 NYC Office Leases

WeWork Inc., once the biggest private office tenant in Manhattan, moved to nix dozens of pricey leases in New York immediately after filing for bankruptcy.

Dormant locations in New York dominate a list of nearly 70 leases the co-working giant intends to terminate, court papers show. The roughly 40 contracts at issue include space near Union Square and in Fulton Center, a retail and transit facility in downtown Manhattan.

WeWork has already stopped operating in and moved out of most of the co-working spaces it hopes to exit. The leases provide “limited to no benefit” to the company, according to court papers. The company still has 47 open locations in New York, according to its website.

As of June, the firm boasted more than 700 locations globally. Loss-making offices were a major factor in WeWork’s descent into bankruptcy.

“Now is the time for us to pull the future forward by aggressively addressing our legacy leases and dramatically improving our balance sheet,” David Tolley, the company’s chief executive officer, said in a statement on Monday.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows insolvent companies to exit burdensome contracts, including leases, as part of their restructuring efforts. WeWork’s lease rejections require bankruptcy court approval.

WATCH: WeWork Inc. filed for bankruptcy, capping a tumultuous period that saw the once high-flying startup navigate a failed initial public offering, Covid-19 lockdowns, a blank-check merger and slow return-to-office trends. Claire Boston reports.

Source: Bloomberg

To contact the reporter on this story:
Amelia Pollard in New York at apollard18@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Claire Boston at cboston6@bloomberg.net

Jeremy Hill, Katherine Chiglinsky

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