WeWork is betting there's still plenty of unmet demand for shared office space in the West Loop. Amid the rampant growth of co-working venues in Chicago, WeWork is finalizing an agreement to lease two floors in the 12-story office building developer Sterling Bay is putting up at 210 N. Carpenter St., sources close to the deal confirmed. The new 48,000-square-foot space in the heart of the Fulton Market District would add to WeWork's 77,000-square-foot location four blocks east at 220 N. Green St. and would be its seventh Chicago location. It would also add to a series of co-working spaces that have opened or are in the works in the trendy West Loop office market, where tenant demand has skyrocketed and spurred a run of new office developments. Smaller shared-office players Onward Coworking and Forum Executive Coworking run offices there, while Amsterdam-based Spaces recently signed a lease for a 40,000-square-foot office at a redeveloped building in the 900 block of West Randolph Street. Another co-working firm, Industrious, is opening a new office in Fulton Market, its second in Chicago. New York-based WeWork would be the third tenant at the new Sterling Bay building, which the developer initially marketed as a "vendor village" to attract a mix of McDonald's vendors as the fast-food giant moves its headquarters to the West Loop from suburban Oak Brook. But the developer has instead found tenants that have nothing to do with the Golden Arches: Construction firm Leopardo, which is building the tower, will locate its headquarters there on one floor when it is done. And sports marketing firm Revolution is leasing a floor for its new headquarters, which it is moving from River North. Construction on the building began in August and is expected to be done next year. A WeWork spokesman and Sterling Bay Director of Leasing Michael Lirtzman declined to comment. Boosted by growing demand from startups and small businesses for workplace flexibility, the space occupied by co-working companies in Chicago more than doubled between 2014 and 2016 to about 1.5 million square feet, according to research from real estate services company Newmark Knight Frank. Newmark projects that will increase to more than 2.5 million square feet in 2018. WeWork's plan for a second Fulton Market location also comes as the developer of its current West Loop outpost cashes out on its popularity. Developer Shapack Partners is finalizing a deal to sell the building at 210-220 N. Green St. for a price in the range of $45 million—far more than the company paid for the former Amity Packing building and spent on its renovation. Meanwhile, the owners of WeWork's 43,000-square-foot location at 100 S. State St. in the Loop also recently put the building on the market. Industry newsletter Real Estate Alert reported the 69,000-square-foot building could fetch $80 million. That would net a large return for Paris-based AXA Group and New York-based Tishman Realty, which paid $35 million for the building in March 2015 and subsequently landed a series of tenants.
uk telecommunications provider WeWork is finalising a deal to occupy two floors of a building in the heart of Chicago 's West business district . WeWork , which already has six spaces in the city , believes the 48,000-sq ft location will help meet rising demand for co - working offices in an area of space already occupied by rivals Spaces , Onward Coworking and Forum Executive Coworking .