WeWork to open new office in downtown Vancouver

by Kate Wilson on June 13th, 2019 at 12:26 PM

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Co-working giant WeWork has today announced that the location of its newest Vancouver space will be 1045 Howe Street.

The site spans an expansive four floors of the building, with more than 1,200 desks available to those looking for a professional community. Situated on the west side of Howe Street, just one block south of Nelson Street and the Provincial Law Courts, the location is easily accessible by buses, SkyTrain, and Mobi bikeshare.

The 54,300 square-foot space is slated to open before the year is out, in December 2019.

WeWork allows freelancers, digital nomads, and remote employees to find a stable, art-designed workspace, and offers bigger organizations the chance to take over large parts of its location as permanent office space. Over one third of the global Fortune 500 are WeWork members, leasing square footage that allows them to expand and contract the size of their workspace as necessary.

The 1045 Howe Street location is part of WeWork’s rapid expansion into the city, which boasts one of the largest startup ecosystems in the world. In 2018, WeWork grew by over 180 percent, starting the year with 1,435 desks and closing it with 4,040. By the end of 2019, it plans to have seven locations open in the Metro Vancouver area.

WeWork offers a measurable impact to businesses. Studies conducted by the organization suggest that while the average job growth rate in small and medium-sized Vancouver companies is 3 percent, WeWork members achieve a 41 percent increase. It also points out that a company of four is able to save, on average, $24,000 on occupancy costs over traditional commercial real estate.

As well as growing in Vancouver, the company is also expanding in other areas of Western Canada. It also announced that it will open its first offices in Calgary in short order, with two new locations welcoming members in fall of this year and early 2020 respectively.

Kate Wilson is the Technology Editor at the Georgia Straight. Follow her on Twitter @KateWilsonSays