New York City landlords have thick skin. It comes with the territory. And that’s why none of them seem too concerned (if at all) about WeWork, even with the rough summer the $16 billion shared-space startup has just put behind itself.
When we asked Larry Silverstein, the chairman of Silverstein Properties, what would happen if the startup flopped, he said, “Oh graces. I don’t know. WeWork is doing very well. They’re in a number of locations with significant investment in each of those locations. I can’t see any reason why they should go belly up. I hope they don’t.”
Indeed, WeWork, which was founded in New York City in 2010, has locations in 83 buildings in 22 cities across seven countries—and will soon grow to 111 buildings in 30 cities across 13 countries. Even though it remains in growth mode—and has even launched its co-living concept WeLive at William Rudin’s 110 Wall Street—how the company will fare through a downturn remains unclear at this point.