WeWork to open large coworking space near TechTown

Coworking giant WeWork, which already operates two spaces in downtown Detroit, will open up a third on Cass Avenue in TechTown. The new location will more than double its footprint in the city.

Crain’s Detroit Business reports that WeWork will lease 91,000 square feet of space in the building at 6001 Cass Avenue at York Street, which is owned by developer The Platform. It will occupy part of the first floor, and all of floors two through five.

WeWork also leases four floors at 1001 Woodward Avenue and seven floors at 1449 Woodward Avenue totaling 85,000 square feet. Both downtown buildings are owned by Dan Gilbert.

WeWork declined to comment to Crain’s about the news, and it’s uncertain when the office will open. At its other Detroit locations, a basic floating desk membership plan starts at $300.

The Albert Kahn–designed building at Cass Avenue opened in 1927 as the Cadillac Sales and Service Building. It later housed WSU’s Criminal Justice department, but had been vacant for some years before being purchased by The Platform in 2016 for $2 million.

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Other tenants in the approximately 130,000-square-foot building include Novi-based Tata Technologies and a Wayne State University art gallery. It’s slated to open this fall.

Before being put on hold earlier this year, The Platform had been working on a nearby, large-scale development plan called Cass & York that called for luxury condos.

WeWork made headlines in August before its initial public offering after releasing its S-1 filing which showed it was losing nearly $2 billion annually. The company operates more than 525 locations in more than 110 cities worldwide.