Megaworld’s long-term partnership with the ‘world’s largest collaborative space company’ will offer around 4,000 square meters of innovative spaces in Fort Bonifacio

Megaworld, the Philippines’ largest office developer and landlord, has bagged a landmark deal with US-based WEWORK for its first Philippine location of collaborative workspaces in Uptown Tower Three in Uptown Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Covering two levels with a total gross floor area of 4,081 square meters, WEWORK formally opened its operations in Uptown Bonifacio in February, following its launch of new locations in Vietnam and Malaysia late last year.

WEWORK Uptown Bonifacio will have facilities such as games and karaoke room, indoor garden area, which is inspired by the Philippine Islands, and wall murals by Filipino artist Bitto.

“This is yet another major milestone for Megaworld and for the Philippine real estate industry. We are very privileged to welcome WEWORK in Uptown Bonifacio, its first-ever location in the country. We are now able to collaborate with a multinational operator of flexible spaces, and this allows both Megaworld and WEWORK to engage in cross referrals. While WEWORK provides flexible short to medium term use of variably sized work spaces, Megaworld does bigger and more permanent ones. But what is similar to both companies is that we both believe in the ideals of creating communities with the spaces that we develop,” says Kevin L. Tan, chief strategy officer, Megaworld.

Grounded by its core mission of creating opportunities for community and collaboration through optimizing space with good design, WEWORK has since expanded its footprint worldwide with 425 physical locations in 100 cities in 27 countries. In Southeast Asia, WEWORK is present in 18 locations in Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, and now, the Philippines. 

“With the Philippines now a rising economy in Southeast Asia, there is no better time to be here than now. WEWORK is not just about the space, but also the value that we create by providing an inclusive member-driven experience that fosters an environment of creativity and collaboration across a vibrant global community of individuals,” says Turochas “T” Fuad, managing director, WEWORK Southeast Asia.

“As our footprint continues to grow in Manila, we are looking at innovative ways to partner with landlords, in this case, Megaworld, which will allow them to share in the upside that we generate. By harnessing the power of WEWORK’S global network and community, we are committed to helping Philippine-based enterprises, freelancers, startups, and MSMEs scale further,” adds Fuad.

To date, over 45,000 companies and more than 400,000 members are now based at WEWORK, with member companies ranging from startups to household names such as Dell, KPMG, GE, Microsoft, and Samsung.

In the Philippines, WEWORK welcomes members ranging from global enterprises to organizations with presence in Manila such as education technology enterprise Edukasyon.ph, activities booking platform Klook, and cashback reward startup Shopback.  

Founded in 2010 by Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey in New York, WEWORK now employs more than 8,000 globally.

Eight years ago, Megaworld first introduced turn-key spaces into the office market, which are also known as ‘swing spaces’, with the intention of providing multinational corporations (MNCs) with a soft landing when they start setting up their operations in the Philippines. These offices allow them to quickly set up without having to worry about unnecessary expenditures. The interim spaces give them the flexible work space that they need while they wait for their permanent spaces to be completed by way of a ‘Build-to-Suit’ arrangement. 

“This was actually the birth of the ‘co-working space’ concept in the Philippine real estate industry, and that was way back in 2011,” explains Go.