[ bworldonline.com ]
MEGAWORLD Corp. plans to bring New York-based workspace operator WeWork into its townships in the country, where it could cater to the needs of start-ups, micro, small, and medium enterprises, as well as freelancers.
WeWork occupies two levels in Uptown Tower Three with a gross floor area of 4,081 square meters (sq.m.), and can accommodate up to 800 members. The co-working space offers desks, offices, and conference rooms to its members, and amenities such as an indoor garden and a karaoke room.
Megaworld Senior Vice-President Jericho P. Go said they hope to bring WeWork to other areas in Metro Manila and the provinces, as part of their partnership.
“In our various townships, we hope to bring them there also. Their strategy is they want to be in the heart of the city,” Mr. Go said in a press briefing in Taguig City on Wednesday.
Mr. Go cited Eastwood City in Quezon City, and other Taguig townships such as McKinley Hill and McKinley West as possible locations for WeWork facilities.
“Eastwood is very interesting because that’s north of Makati, that is a very prime location. There are over 80,000 BPO and traditional office employees already working in Eastwood so they can very much benefit from that huge pool of untapped market as far as WeWork is concerned,” Mr. Go explained.
Should WeWork be interested to expand to the provinces, Mr. Go said they can offer office spaces in Iloilo Business Park in Mandurriao, Iloilo, and in Cebu.
“We’re nearing 100,000 sq.m. of office space there (Iloilo Business Park), employing anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 employees from BPO to traditional workers, so these are all interesting sites for them to take a presence in,” Mr. Go said.
WeWork currently has 287 locations in 77 cities in the United States, Netherlands, Chile, Canada, Germany, Singapore, and South Korea, among others. The Philippines is its fourth location is Southeast Asia, following Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Its second site will have 680 desks at RCBC Plaza, Makati City, to be opened in the second quarter of 2019.
Megaworld’s partnership with WeWork supports its goal to lease out 1.5 million sq.m. of office space by 2020, the same time it expects to hit a rental income of P20 billion.
The property giant ended 2018 with 1.2 million sq.m. of office space, and is set to add about 300,000 sq.m. in the next two years.
Shares in Megaworld dropped 0.94% or five centavos to close at P5.26 each at the stock exchange on Wednesday.
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