WeWork has a new CEO as the company reorganizes under new ownership, but the College Park location remains on solid ground.
Nearly all of the private office spaces at WeWork in College Park are occupied, dispelling concerns some have had about the location’s viability.
The first WeWork in the world on a university campus, the College Park location opened in late 2018 at a time when the company was going under a lot of business development challenges.
But the space at 7761 Diamondback Dr. behind the Hotel at the University of Maryland has a growing list of “hot desk” members who utilize the first-floor common area. And at least 37 of the 39 private offices on the second floor are now occupied according to data provided to the Hyattsville Wire by Julia Sullivan, who serves as the senior lead in WeWork’s corporate communications department.
Major tenants at WeWork in College Park include Live Nation / Ticketmaster, a leader in ticket management for the entertainment and large-scale sports industries; Zizatek, which provides recruiting services for federal agencies and small businesses; Infotrend, a management consulting firm; the Maryland Small Business Development Center, a government economic development partnership; and Alion Science and Technology, which provides engineering consulting for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Alion is a good example of the kind of business the University of Maryland hopes to recruit to its Discovery District. The company hosts an internship program at WeWork in College Park that brings in top students from the University of Maryland’s computer science program to work on projects involving artificial intelligence, among other things.
In a brief interview with the Hyattsville Wire, Jon Mayer, president of Chesapeake Realty Partners, who was behind bringing WeWork and The Hall CP to College Park to join the vision of the university and the greater College Park community, said:
“We are extremely thrilled with the performance of the WeWork College Park location as well as Terrapin Development Company Ken Ulman’s implementation of President Loh’s vision to transform this underutilized section of campus into the world-class Discovery District. Our partnership with WeWork aligns all stakeholder interests, including the University’s, and will allow this location to thrive for many years to come.”
WeWork members who have been at this location since it opened a little over a year ago say it is steadily growing and on an average day it’s bustling with conference room meetings, events and members hunkering down on their work while sipping a vanilla latte made with Vigilante coffee or a Marin Kombucha, available on tap in the common kitchen area. Members also say on a given weekday unless they get to WeWork right at 9 a.m., most if not all of the designated parking spaces have already been taken.
With a tech incubator located across the street, the Hotel at the University of Maryland next door, the Hall CP recently opening right beside WeWork, the six-story Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering across the street and a Purple Line stop slated for around the corner, this WeWork location fits right into the university’s vision for a silicon corridor and it’s already well-serving its intended purpose.
