Industry disrupter WeWork just missed a chance to become the largest renter of commercial real estate on Manhattan.
The company is currently the second largest, and trails JPMorgan by 74,000 square feet. WeWork had been negotiating to lease 200,000 square feet at One World Trade Center, the iconic Freedom Tower, which stands on the former site of the Twin Towers.
WeWork had been in negotiations with the Durst Organization to rent about 220,000 square feet in the downtown Manhattan tower, which at 1,776 feet has been the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere since opening in 2014.
The lease negotiations faltered after Durst received better offers for some of the space that WeWork wanted. There were “more competitive numbers” from some media and technology companies, Chairman Douglas Durst said in an interview, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
“Their demise represents a setback to WeWork’s rapid expansion in New York, even as it continues to spread its reach in major markets around the globe. The New York-based company opened 87 locations in 12 new cities in the first half of the year, and leases office space in China, the U.K. and Brazil,” according to the article.