Space 1 resumes leasing of former WeWork coworking spaces

Flexible office space operator Space 1 has renamed ViWork Rus LLC, a Russian asset acquired from US-based WeWork in April, to Space 1 JET. In mid-May, the corresponding changes were made to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. As RB.RU found out, the operator has resumed renting premises.

According Space 1 CEO Mikhail BrodnikovSince April, operational management of four sites in Moscow “Red Rose”, “Yakimanka”, “White Square” and Arcus for 3 thousand workplaces with a total area of ​​18 thousand square meters. m was completely transferred from WeWork to the Russian company Space 1. The Space 1 JET offer includes ready-to-move-in offices from 5 workplaces, check-in from 1 day with a minimum contract duration of 6 months.

“If we take the classic Space 1, then we do not have free premises and we direct the demand to JET. Until the end of the year, the vacancy will be close to the minimum,” explained the general director.

Rental prices under the agreements concluded with WeWork will remain the same, but in the future the company does not rule out revising the cost of services.

The agreement involves abandoning the use of the WeWork brand, as well as disconnecting from the global computing platform. According to Brodnikov, abandoning the brand and moving into IT solutions offers more opportunities to local clients.

Space 1 has already replaced all signs and information panels and created its own mobile application for booking meeting rooms and workspaces. In the near future, the company intends to add the ability to use the Space 1 app as a pass. More than 4,000 Space 1 customers already use this functionality every day.

In January 2024, it was reported that WeWork had agreed to sell its Russian business to investment company O1 Properties. The transaction amount was estimated at 1.6 billion rubles.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Space 1 is owned by Pyotr Bukin (95%) and Pavel Barbashev (5%) of O1 Properties, their shares are pledged to VTB. Space 1’s revenue in 2023 increased by 11% to 1.8 billion rubles, net profit amounted to 413 million rubles. The revenue of the former ViWork over the past year decreased by 26% to 940 million rubles, the company received a net loss of 268 million rubles.

Previously, data ethics researcher, HSE professor and Segment founder Roman Nester expressed his impressions of the series. We crashed (“It didn’t work.”) The series chronicles the failure of the idea to transform the WeWork coworking network into a giant capitalization company.