Co-Working Footprint in Chicago Continues to Grow

20 W. Kinzie was once home to Google, but We Work now anchors the property.

CHICAGO—WeWork has signed a lease expansion at Alter’s 20 W. Kinzie building in River North, just one year after taking over much of the space vacated by tech giant Google. An Alter spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that the shared workspace provider will also occupy the entire 16^th floor, an extra 25,000 square feet, and now has a long-term lease at the property for a total of 129,000 square feet, making it the largest WeWork facility in Chicago.

Although such co-working spaces currently constitute a small proportion of the metro area’s office market, landlords credit the facilities with bringing life and energy to their properties. And this quick expansion by New York-based WeWork, the anchor tenant of this top office property, illustrates that co-working providers have potential to play an even more important role in the market.