David Nasatir Discusses WeWork’s Bankruptcy Filing in BisNow

Obermayer Chair David Nasatir was interviewed by BisNow in connection with WeWork’s bankruptcy filing last week. In the article, titled “Competitors Eye Space Abandoned By WeWork As Coworking Seeks New Normal,” published on November 13, 2023, David weighs in on the future of coworking and its footprint in a struggling office market. 

“The jury’s still out on what coworking is going to look like for the next decade-plus,” said Obermayer Chair David Nasatir, who also leads the firm’s distressed commercial real estate group.

A large number of leases will expire in the coming few years, putting a lot of square footage onto the market, Nasatir added. Some of that space will represent opportunities for landlords to create coworking space, but it isn’t clear yet how much, because the demand for coworking in the future isn’t entirely clear. Still, fewer people coming into the office may or may translate into more demand for space elsewhere, such as in coworking spaces.

“The question you ask yourself is, if someone is working two or three days in the office, what’s going to happen with that office the other two or three days?”

One strong possibility is an increase in hoteling, where workers share space across a week in which none of them are in the office every day, Nasatir said. That is less of a coworking model.

“The other concept is really more of a coworking environment, where businesses just lease out space for a portion of the week,” Nasatir said. “That’s all they need. They want the team there every day with everybody on Tuesday and Wednesday, but on Thursday and Friday, everyone’s working from home.”

To stay ahead of the potential upcoming distressed real estate market, David Nasatir, Firm Chair and head of the Business and Finance department at Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell and Hippel LLP, and Edmond George, Chair of the Bankruptcy & Business Reorganizations department have formed a Distressed Commercial Real Estate team to help clients deal with the uncertainties in the market. 

Key aspects of Obermayer’s distressed commercial real estate law practice include:

• Foreclosure and Bankruptcy
• Loan Workouts and Restructuring
• Debt and Asset Sales
• Loan Enforcement
• Lease Disputes
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution
• Real Estate Transactions
• Tax Implications