November 07, 2023
WeWork, the once-multi-billion dollar startup that became synonymous with the "coworking" shared office space movement, has filed for bankruptcy.
The New York-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in federal court Monday, seeking to restructure its $18 billion debt and listing about $100 million in unpaid rent.
WeWork operates two coworking office spaces in Philadelphia, at 1900 Market St. and 1100 Ludlow St. For now, they're not going anywhere. The company said all of its current spaces will remain open as the bankruptcy proceedings unfold.
When WeWork arrived in Philly by opening its former Northern Liberties location in 2016, the city already had a robust coworking community. Ten years earlier, Alex Hillman and Geoff DeMasi launched IndyHall, the city's first coworking space – and one of the first of its kind in the United States. Over the next few years, several other upstarts – such as the South Philly Co-Op Workspace, Benjamin's Desk, The Hive and Culture Works – followed suit by opening shared workspaces designed to cater to Philly's freelancers, small businesses and remote office workers of various stripes.
By the end of 2019, Philly was practically overflowing with coworking spaces, with 1.1 million square feet in flexible workspace available across the city, according to coworking industry data cited by Technical.ly at the time.
IndyHall, DesignHive, REC Philly, The Cedarworks, The Yard, THRIVE Philly and the creative makerspace inside the Bok building were just a fraction of the coworking options available in Philadelphia in 2019. Other flexible workspace providers offered multiple locations, including five by 1776 (formerly Benjamin's Desk), three by KISMET, three by MakeOffices and five by WeWork.
Like so many other things in life, the flexible workspace industry in Philly has changed quite a bit since 2019. As the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions to stay home and do their jobs remotely, urban office spaces – be they shared coworking spaces or traditional offices – largely sat empty as infections climbed and stay-at-home orders remained in place.
In the new hybrid work economy, nontraditional office setups like coworking spaces remain useful for many workers, although demand may not be what it was pre-pandemic as downtown districts in cities like Philadelphia continue their sluggish returns to normal and overall office occupancy rates remain at record highs.
Not surprisingly, there are fewer coworking spaces in Philadelphia now than there were prior to the pandemic. In September 2020, WeWork announced that it was closing its 1430 Walnut St. location in Center City in an effort to streamline its portfolio and improve profitability. Just over three years later, only two WeWork locations remain in Philly.
That isn't to say that Philly doesn't still have plenty of flexible workspaces available to those who need them. Despite shuttering its original Old City location in 2021, IndyHall is now operating a new space at 709 N. Second St. in Northern Liberties.
Philly has a number other coworking spaces available, as well. Many of them operate out of spaces once used for other purposes. Want to rent a desk in what was once a theater in South Philly? Get creative in a former textile mill in Port Richmond? Scratch items off your to-do list in an office inside the iconic Wanamaker building? Philadelphia's coworking scene still offers a variety of unique spaces for getting things done, whatever the fate of WeWork may be.
