Many cities are hoping that co-working can act as a bridge to more workers coming into downtown areas, according to a report in Bisnow.
Over the last three months, Miami, New York and D.C. have announced partnerships with WeWork to offer discounts to companies bringing people back to the office. The coworking company finances the discounts without city subsidies, but the cities are using their promotion and marketing power to push people toward the WeWork spaces.
“‘How do we bring people back downtown to shop, buy lunch and coffee, and revitalize the economic prosperity in these cities?’ That was a key theme for most of the cities we spoke to,” said Ferzli, who had previously led corporate affairs and communications at juice giant Ocean Spray, according to her LinkedIn page. “We realized we could help with that post-pandemic recovery.”
WeWork is planning to expand the partnership model around the country and the globe, Ferzli said. She said it is preparing to announce three new partnerships in the coming months, but she didn’t disclose which cities.