WeWork, the fast-growing provider of co-sharing work spaces, has acquired Case, the New York-based building information modeling consultant.
The acquisition of comes a few months after WeWork, in June, announced that it had raised $400 million from investors, bringing its total funding to nearly $1 billion.
David Fano, one of Case’s three cofounders, explained that as part of WeWork, his firm’s design teams will be thinking more about “process improvements” and how it can take efficient space design, construction, and management to the next level. “We were really excited about being on the decision-making side … and having a direct hand in designing the construction we are going to do,” Fano told the Commercial Observer.
Fano says more than 90% of Case’s 63-person workforce is joining WeWork, and that his company will now work exclusively for its owner. He adds that the combination should help WeWork standardize the means by which it designs its properties.
Started less than five years ago, WeWork’s valuation is now somewhere between $5 billion and $10 billion. The company has more than 30,000 customers in 11 U.S. cities, and more than 1 million sf of shared office space in New York City alone. In the first half of 2015, WeWork was Manhattan’s most active tenant, according to The Real Deal.
Over the last 36 months, WeWork has grown to 70 employees from eight. A few months ago, Roni Bahir, its Executive Vice president of Strategic Development and Special Projects, said the company intends to open between 40 and 50 locations by June 2016, and add at least 50 million sq of space within the next five years. WeWork has been one of Case’s “owner” clients for the past three years.
When Case launched in 2008, it was operating out of one of WeWork’s spaces, and the two companies have since been linked at the hip as WeWork has expanded. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but both Case and WeWork have moved into permanent headquarters at 115 West 18th Street in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Take the hassle out of managing subcontractors
As general contractors look to technology for an edge in the slowing commercial construction market, Web-based bidding programs are helping them to connecting bid information, subcontractors, and proposals. A 2008 survey by the Construction Financial Management Association found that 62% of general contractors participated in Web-based construction bidding vs.
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
| Aug 11, 2010
Luxury Hotel required faceted design
Goettsch Partners, Chicago, designed a new five-star, 214-room hotel for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design-build project, with Saudi Oger Ltd. as contractor and Rayadah Investment Co. as developer, has a three-story podium supporting a 17-story glass tower with a nine-story opening that allows light to penetrate the mass of the building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Architectural Visualization Rendering the Future
Three-dimensional design tools have revolutionized the way architects and engineers design buildings; in recent years, parametric modeling has enabled Building Teams to impart weight tolerances and other intelligent information to a finished design. Yet many designers say they use 3D most in the conceptual design stage, when detailed building information is not necessary and can actually encumb...
| Aug 11, 2010
Big-time BIM
As the need for new state, county, and municipal facilities keeps growing and funding for public building construction continues to shrink, state and local officials are left with two basic options: renovate dilapidated older buildings and hope for the best, or build new facilities on anemic budgets.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dotting the I in IPD
Collaboration software is going beyond just sharing files. It is being used to enable full building information modeling early in design. Two programs are enabling Building Teams to more easily share the information in BIM and use it for integrated project delivery: Bluebeam Software, which just released the newest version of its AEC-specific PDF collaboration tool; and eBuilder Enterprise, a W...
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Business Management
22. Commercial Properties Repositioned for University USE Tocci Building Companies is finding success in repositioning commercial properties for university use, and it expects the trend to continue. The firm's Capital Cove project in Providence, R.I., for instance, was originally designed by Elkus Manfredi (with design continued by HDS Architects) to be a mixed-use complex with private, market-...
