A year after entering Montreal in its first move towards Canadian expansion, WeWork today confirmed the location of its Toronto space.
Located at 240 Richmond Street West in a 100-year-old building, WeWork Toronto will take up 60,000 square feet and accommodate 1,000 community members. Taking up six floors, WeWork will offer private offices, coworking space, and meeting rooms.
“Our view is that Toronto is a capital of business, innovation, and entrepreneurship, and we don’t see any reason to be cautious about it,” said Dave McLaughlin, WeWork’s general manager for the eastern US and Canada. “We understand well at this point how entrepreneurship ecosystems work, and how WeWork contributes to them, and where we sort of fit and where we can help to accelerate the growth and dynamism of a given city.”
Like they do with all of their locations, WeWork connected with Toronto policy leaders and the community to create a space unique to the city.
“As long as we’re helping a city’s business community thrive that much more, our business is going to do fine.” – Dave McLaughlin
“The City of Toronto is excited to welcome WeWork to Toronto. I met with the WeWork team on our recent mission to Israel and saw first-hand the value they provide for startups, established companies and creators looking to grow and thrive. Their investment in Toronto is another validation that the city’s startup community is growing and that Toronto is being recognized globally as connected, dynamic hub for culture, creativity and innovation.”
“I think Toronto has an energy to it that you don’t feel everywhere you go. There’s an optimism and energy that you feel on the street in Toronto that’s something we wanna be part of,” said McLaughlin. “One thing I’ve seen in Toronto is really strong leadership. We’ve met a lot of strong leaders in the private sector, but we’re really impressed by the leadership of the public sector and the government support of the entrepreneurship ecosystem.”
The news comes a week after WeWork publicly announced that it is leasing 80,000 square feet in Vancouver. The 595 Burrard St location, located in Vancouver’s financial district and made up of seven floors, will accommodate 1,500 people.
“I’m thrilled to welcome WeWork to Vancouver’s thriving innovation ecosystem, which continues to flourish and is attracting top companies and talent from all over the world,” said Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson. “Our economy is booming and we continue to lead Canada in delivering thousands of jobs per year. We Work will not only provide accessible, affordable work space for our local entrepreneurs to grow and thrive, but will also help connect Vancouver talent with a global network of creators.”
As the network is making a commitment to support another 2,500 community members in Canada, McLaughlin said that the company always takes the position of making long-term commitments in any market they enter.
“We take the position that says, how do we best contribute? As long as we’re helping that city’s business community thrive that much more, our business is going to do fine,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a really fortunate position to be in, because we can take the long view and the big picture view.”
Photo via Hullmark