Mayor Lee Officially Opens New WeWork Location in Central Market

SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- At a ribbon-cutting ceremony that marked a major step forward in the revitalization of the city's Central Market/Tenderloin area, Mayor Lee and District Six Supervisor Jane Kim today officially opened the second San Francisco location of WeWork, the nation's largest and fastest-growing provider of shared working space for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, and small businesses. A seven floor, 55,000-square-foot coworking space in the Golden Gate Theatre building at 25 Taylor Street. The development is expected to bring approximately 200 small businesses and 600 jobs to the neighborhood.

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"The expansion of WeWork signals the continued growth of small businesses, providing a unique and innovative coworking office space for businesses to start, stay and grow here in San Francisco," said Mayor Lee.  "This new Central Market/Tenderloin location will bring hundreds of jobs to our City, and I am thrilled to welcome the expansion of WeWork to an area that is turning a corner in terms of opportunity and vitality."

"The Mid-Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods attract businesses who want to be a part of something bigger than themselves," said Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents the District. "WeWork is a company that will help strengthen the area with their creative and collaborative energy. I appreciate WeWork's demonstrated commitment to investing in District Six on Second Street and welcome them to Taylor and Golden Gate and to our diverse community."

"As a hub of both entrepreneurialism and social innovation, San Francisco is tailor-made for WeWork and vice versa," said WeWork co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann. "It's no wonder that even before the official opening of our Golden Gate Theatre location, all the available floors were already fully occupied."

"What draws us to a city like San Francisco is the same thing that draws entrepreneurs, startups, and freelancers to WeWork: it's the creative atmosphere, the technical sophistication, and the strong sense of community," added co-founder and Chief Creative Officer Miguel McKelvey.

Founded in 2010, WeWork currently leases more than half a million square feet of coworking space in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles. Over the next year, WeWork expects to open an additional 900,000 square feet in six other cities. Candidate cities include Chicago, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

To prepare the Golden Gate Theatre location for its new members, WeWork completed a gut renovation to upgrade all building systems, while respecting and honoring the building's historic character. Going forward, WeWork plans to renovate the ground-floor exterior to add retail spaces opening onto Taylor Street. Among the companies taking space in the location are BuzzFeed, Coca-Cola, FWD.US, Imgur, Habitat for Humanity International, and Party Corps.

"It is our most beautiful build-out so far, combining the existing concrete and steel structure in a really striking way with our newly installed aluminum and glass wall systems," said McKelvey. "Plus, there are fantastic views from the building in all directions."

When entrepreneurs, startups, freelancers, and small businesses move into a WeWork location, they get fully equipped and finished work spaces with access to super-fast Internet and WiFi, wired conference rooms, copiers and scanners, kitchens, lounges, and coffee bars – all of which they share with fellow members of the WeWork community. Equally if not more important, they become part of a powerful, diverse, and digitally-connected network of what will soon be more than 10,000 like-minded businesspeople around the country who can help them work, recruit, brainstorm, and grow.

"We live in an increasingly entrepreneurial world in which more and more people find themselves trying to build businesses on their own," said Neumann. "WeWork fills a vital need by providing not just office space but a living, vibrant community where you can find the help, advice, and tools it takes to grow personally as well as professionally."

WeWork opened its first San Francisco location – a 35,000-square-foot space at 156 2^nd Street, four blocks south of Market Street – in October 2011. The SOMA building now houses some 540 members of the WeWork community working at 220 different companies, including Business Insider, Getty Images, and Peter Rabbit Organics.

WeWork CEO Adam Neumann is an entrepreneur who has made his mark in industries ranging from apparel to real estate. Before co-founding WeWork, he was co-founder of Green Desk and co-founder and CEO of Big Tent Inc., which developed the well known Egg Baby and Krawlers brands of children's clothing.  He leads real estate, business development and strategy for WeWork.

Miguel McKelvey, who co-founded WeWork with Neumann and serves as the company's Chief Creative Officer, is an interdisciplinary designer with extensive experience in architecture, construction management, and software design.  He was involved in the early-stage development of several companies, including Green Desk, Barre3, American Apparel, Versation, and English, baby!  He leads marketing and member experience for WeWork.

About WeWork

WeWork empowers entrepreneurs and businesses to succeed by providing a collaborative community and services that allow them to focus their energy on growing their business. With locations in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, WeWork is rapidly growing its community to become the largest network of small businesses in the U.S.

Learn more at wework.com.

SOURCE WeWork