WeWork Austin Office Trades After Landing in Receivership

WeWork’s Austin office near Auditorium Shores has new owners after landing in receivership. 

Austin-based Brick Row and New York-based SomeraRoad teamed up to purchase the property at 801 Barton Springs Road, the Austin Business Journal reported. The sales price was not disclosed, but the 90,000-square-foot building just south of Lady Bird Lake was last valued at $25.5 million by the Travis Central Appraisal District.

Previous owners WeWork Capital Advisors — the coworking giant’s investment arm — and Ivanhoe Cambridge lost the building after defaulting on a $34.5 million loan in 2024. The pair purchased the property for $57 million in 2019. 

WeWork leased the entire building when it was still under construction in 2018. It renegotiated its lease in the sale to just two floors, opening up about 41,000 square feet of office space near downtown. 

Austin’s office market continues to struggle with high vacancy, but 801 Barton Strings Road is in a desirable location, due to its proximity to downtown and Austin’s southwest suburbs and the lack of inventory in the area, SomeraRoad’s Brock Kenyon told the outlet. 

He said the transaction has taken nearly three years. SomeraRoad brought Brick Row into the deal earlier this year to manage leasing. 

SomeraRoad has increased its footprint in Austin in recent years. The firm, which also has a headquarters in Nashville, purchased St. Elmo Public Market in 2023. At the time, the property at 4329 South Congress Avenue was an unfinished adaptive-reuse retail project. The property is now Pins Mechanical Company, an entertainment concept that offers duckpin bowling. In 2024, SomeraRoad announced plans to build 230 apartments next to the St. Elmo development. 

Brick Row is also making moves in Austin’s beleaguered office market. It acquired Northwest Austin’s Quarry Oaks II from Brandywine in June. The office building at 10900 Stonelake Boulevard, was built in 1998 and renovated in 2008. 

— Eric Weilbacher

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