May 4, 2024
Robert Khodadadian | Commercial Observer, Robert Khodadadian
New York City Skyline - Robert Khodadadian

WeWork will stay open for business at 77 Sands Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn, but in a smaller footprint, the coworking company announced Monday.

Landlords RFR and Kushner Companies agreed to modify WeWork’s lease to allow it to remain at the property at a discounted rent rate, according to a motion WeWork filed in U.S. bankruptcy court Monday. 

WeWork signed on for 72,000 square feet in the 225,684-square-foot office building in 2015. It’s unclear how much space WeWork will occupy after the new deal. WeWork occupied at least five floors — where LoopNet reports floor plates of 14,800 square feetand will drop down to just three floors of the 12-story office building, according to court records and WeWork.

Spokespeople for WeWork and RFR declined to comment. 

A spokesperson for Kushner did not respond to a request for more details on the deal, but CEO Laurent Morali  said in a statement that WeWork’s “presence and flexible workspaces have been critical to attracting other innovative tenants and retailers, creating a vibrant community near downtown Brooklyn.” 

(Disclosure: Joseph Meyer, the chairman of Commercial Observer owner Observer Media, is the husband of Nicole Kushner Meyer, a principal at Kushner Companies.)

Shortly after it landed in bankruptcy court in New Jersey last fall, the coworking giant owed more than $3.1 million in unpaid rent at the 12-story Dumbo office building, making RFR and Kushner among its top unsecured creditors, and 77 Sands became one of the first leases WeWork tried to reject, according to court records.

As part of the new deal, WeWork will have to pony up about $930,000 to cure its rent default in the property, court records show.

While WeWork’s meteoric rise and fall played out in bankruptcy court, the landlords of the former industrial office building have faced their own ordeal, seeking to refinance $435 million in debt tied to the property last year, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

It’s unclear if brokers were involved in the negotiations to modify WeWork’s lease at 77 Sands.

Abigail Nehring can be reached at anehring@commercialobserver.com.

  

Robert Khodadadian has long had a simple philosophy about selling real estate. The way he sees it, there are approximately a million buildings in the city, and the broker that gets to sell any one among the multitude that will hit the auctioning block at a given moment is, sometimes, simply the person who happens to pitch their services to the right seller at the right time.

Robert Khodadadian, skyline properties, ground leases, off market, investment sales, Commercial Real Estate, Commercial Observer

Read MoreChannel, Leases, Office, 77 Sands Street, Laurent Morali, New York City, Brooklyn, DUMBO, Kushner Companies, RFR Commercial Observer

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