WeWork hit with landlord lawsuits just ahead of its bankruptcy
Business
New York City office owners sued the co-working tenant last week for millions
(Web Desk) - As WeWork had one foot out the door last week, preparing for Monday's bankruptcy filing, their landlords rushed to get their last lawsuits in.
Two lawsuits were filed in New York County Supreme Court last week over WeWork’s failure to pay the fees it promised in exchange for terminating its leases.
The court records come just days after the Wall Street Journal reported that the co-working giant planned to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as this week.
When a company files for bankruptcy, most civil lawsuits are halted and creditors are suspended from pursuing judgments.
New York City’s largest commercial landlord, SL Green, on Thursday sued WeWork over its lease at 2 Herald Square in Manhattan, seeking a sum of over $1 million — just a portion of the $12 million total WeWork owes to terminate the lease. WeWork signed a lease there in November 2016, set to expire in 2036, according to the complaint.
It was reported that the building was on the brink of foreclosure when WeWork rented all of its desks — 122,000 square feet of space — to Amazon in 2017.
But in April of this year, WeWork and the landlord came to an agreement that the flexible office space provider would vacate the premises and cough up millions to do so.
Those payments were set to be owed over the course of several months. When WeWork missed several payment installments, SL Green turned to the courts.
A spokesperson for SL Green did not respond to The Messenger’s request for comment.
The same occurred at 540 Broadway, where WeWork occupied 25,400 square feet across four floors. Landlord Broadway Continental Corp. filed a notice of motion for summary judgment Wednesday, seeking $1.4 million.
WeWork terminated its lease last December and ignored its notices to pay the required fees since.
WeWork originally signed a lease for the SoHo location in New York City in September 2019, then re-signed the amended lease in the beginning of 2021. Attorneys for Broadway Continental did not respond to The Messenger’s inquiries.
