Tampa Bay entrepreneurs will soon have yet another option to scale their business beyond the coffee shop and home office.
WeWork, the coworking space with shared amenities and Instagram-worthy offices, announced Tuesday it would be occupying a 50,000-square-foot office in Heights Union in downtown Tampa. Heights Union is an anticipated office development in the Heights district, which includes Armature Works and Heights Public Market.
The space will be enough for 800 WeWork members, according to a company press release. WeWork will join a slew of other coworking spaces, accelerators and incubators in the Tampa Bay area including Station House at St. Petersburg and the forthcoming Embarc Collective in Tampa. Officials said they are eyeing a spring 2020 opening date.
“Coworking space is in high demand in Tampa and the addition of WeWork to the market will provide entrepreneurs, startups and innovative companies another option to house and grow their businesses,” said Craig Richard, president and CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. in a statement. “This new location will help us further market Tampa as a top business destination and we look forward to welcoming WeWork to our market.”
WeWork has 425 locations across the globe, in 100 cities and 27 countries including Atlanta, Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas and Boston. The company's valued at $47 billion. It recently announced it would rebrand to the "We Company," which will include educational spaces (WeGrow) and residential spaces (WeLive).
WeWork has become synonymous with coworking spaces in part because of the wide range of amenities it offers; with shared spaces starting at $220 per month for rental, occupants can get free beer, coffee, 24/7 building access and millennial friendly shared common areas and bike storage.
“WeWork has locations in some of the hippest cities in the country,” Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said in the release. “WeWork’s pick of Tampa is further proof that our city is gaining credibility as a vibrant, cool place to live and work, and a place where some of the country’s leading and most innovative companies want to be.”
