Chicago coworking firm Workbox is taking over a WeWork space in the Fulton Market district, where global giant IWG plans two new offices as part of an expansion throughout the Chicago area.
Workbox has a deal to assume operations of WeWork’s previous six-level, approximately 60,000-square-foot space in the building at 210-220 N. Green St., the company said in a statement to CoStar News.
Switzerland-based IWG, meanwhile, said it is adding two new facilities on Racine Street in the former meatpacking district. This will be part of seven new Chicago-area offices coming by early 2025; the other five will be in the suburbs.
The Fulton Market offices are expected to be under the Regus brand at 315 N. Racine Ave. and the Spaces brand next door at 317 N. Racine Ave.
Members already in the WeWork space on Green Street will have the option to remain after the transition to Workbox is completed, likely next month, according to Workbox.
“Fulton Market was the last major Chicago submarket we wanted to add to our portfolio,” CEO and co-founder John Wallace said in the statement. “There is an abundance of high-growth companies located in this neighborhood, which aligns closely with our existing member base and target customers.”
As part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last year, WeWork said in recent court filings it planned to reject the Green Street lease while assuming another 89 leases throughout the country and Canada. WeWork is maintaining a nearby Fulton Market space at 167 N. Green St., which is known for its unique, top-floor basketball court.
Workbox’s deal, previously reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, comes half a year after the company took over part of what had been WeWork’s largest space in the city’s Loop business district in The National at 125 S. Clark St.
Founded in 2019, Workbox now has six spaces in Chicago and 10 nationally.
This week, Workbox opened in another former WeWork space in Dallas.
IWG’s seven new facilities will open by late this year or early 2025, the company said in a statement. Suburban deals include headquarters-branded offices within the Saddlewood Shopping Center at 10334 Route 59 in Naperville; in another Naperville building at 640 W. Washington St.; and at 20200 Governors Drive in Olympia Fields.
Regus locations are planned for the Riverwalk I office tower at 2150 E. Lake Cook Road in Buffalo Grove and 1870 W. Winchester Road in Libertyville.
IWG last year announced plans to open 21 other new locations in Illinois, mostly in the Chicago area. That included one at 19 N. Green St. along the southern edge of Fulton Market.
The locations are part of IWG's ongoing expansion, which has included actively seeking spaces vacated by WeWork worldwide. Most IWG deals in recent years have been partnership agreements with landlords.
The company said it now has more than 1,500 centers in the United States and 4,000 globally. It has more than 75 spaces in Illinois.
“The rapid uptick of hybrid working is transforming the world of work for companies of all sizes and their employees,” IWG founder and CEO Mark Dixon said in the statement. “Workers no longer need to endure long and costly commutes on a daily basis and at IWG, we’re focusing on providing state-of-the-art workplaces in the heart of local communities that empower people to work closer to home.”