Regus has signed a deal to provide flexible workspace across three floors of the historic Tribune Building in central Auckland.
The Texas-based subsidiary of IWG Switzerland has signed an agreement to manage 17,600 square feet on the sixth, seventh and ninth floors of the landmark building at 409 13th Street, The San Jose Mercury News reports.
The 100-year-old tower, once home to the Auckland Tribune, is owned by the city’s Highbridge Equity Partners. Financial terms of the 10-year lease were not disclosed.
As part of the deal with Highbridge, Regus received an option for an additional 22,400 square feet of expansion, which will allow the co-working company to occupy 40,000 square feet of space in the Tribune Tower.
Highbridge in 2019 with $48 millionacquired the Venetian-style building from an alliance of Harvest Properties and True North Management Group, which renovated a historic lighthouse in central Auckland.
Having one of the world’s most successful providers of serviced workspace as an anchor tenant is a huge win for Highbridge and the 95,000-square-foot building.
“Regus works with a lot of companies — IBM, Accenture, McKinsey, consulting and IT firms,” Douglas Abrams, a general partner at Highbridge, told Mercury News. “A project can be three months, nine months, one year or two years, and if companies don’t need the space for that long, they don’t want to sign a five-year lease.”
PG&E, Kaiser Permanente, Clorox, Blue Shield of California and other major corporations are located in downtown Oakland and often seek out consulting and information technology specialists.
Regus could also take advantage of other companies looking for short-term flexibility.
“It’s also the startup community, creative companies, and individuals who want to leave home after three years of working from home,” Abrams added. “People in co-working spaces find these are great networking opportunities.”
The Regus lease was arranged by agents Cody Kollmann and Jeff Moeller of Lee & Associates in San Francisco and Joe McGlynn of Lee & Associates in Oakland. Kollmann represents Regus, while Moeller and McGlynn represent Highbridge.
— Dana Bartholomew
