When WeWork opens its newest Dallas location at Thanksgiving Tower on April 3, it’ll also be establishing the company’s southern regional headquarters.
The New York-based co-working space regionalized its business last year, breaking it into west, east, south, and tri-state regions. The south region, which will be based out of Thanksgiving Tower, is one of the smallest but also one of the fastest-growing, said Adam Wacenske, WeWork’s general manager for the southern region. In addition to Dallas, the south region encompasses Austin; Miami; Atlanta; Charlotte, N.C.; and Kansas City, Mo. The headquarters in Dallas will house leadership for the region’s sales, community, communications, operations, and finance teams.
“There’s a reason why people are coming to Dallas,” Wacenske said. “It really is because there is this awesome lifestyle that aligns with what WeWork is trying to do. That’s what ultimately helped us make the decision.”
WeWork chose downtown Dallas because the company wanted to participate in the resurgence of the community, including the startup activity that has emerged in the last few years, Wacenske said. It also provides the opportunity for employees and members to work, live, and play in the same area, he added. WeWork’s Thanksgiving Tower location is its largest space in Dallas-Fort Worth yet, comprising 84,000 square feet with a capacity of 1,600 people. It also has an 45,000 square-foot location in Uptown, which can serve 850 people, and plans to open a 25,000 square-foot Plano space for 600 people. Its Uptown location is about 80 percent occupied since opening in January.
WeWork strives to be more than a co-working space, offering its members access to discounted health benefits, payment processing, payroll, and other services. It also provides members the ability to work from any of its 130 locations that span across the world and connects more than 100,000 members, 70 percent of whom find business partnerships through the network.
Wacenske, who is currently relocating from New York City, leads the space and expects to hire some of the key regional leadership roles from the Dallas talent pool. He previously has served at the front desk of one of the company’s New York locations before helping WeWork launch offices in London; Tel Aviv, Israel; Austin; additional locations in New York; and Los Angeles.
As head of the south region, Wacenske will be charged with leading regional community involvement, events, and partnerships. While Wacenske doesn’t expect to announce any additional locations in DFW anytime soon, he does expect the area to be one of the region’s strongest markets.
“The way that we’re ramping up is amazing,” he said. “Dallas has a lot of potential for us.”
