Adding to the growing momentum in Prince George’s County, WeWork, a global leader in co-working with more than 200 locations in 21 countries, has selected The University of Maryland, College Park for its first location in Maryland. As part of a new partnership model, it will be the first WeWork on a college campus, located in the University of Maryland’s Discovery District.
“WeWork is excited to be partnering with Chesapeake Realty Partners along with the University of Maryland for our first-ever college campus location,” said Nicole Mozeliak, WeWork’s General Manager for the Mid-Atlantic.
“The vibrancy of the UMD campus, access to an amazing talent pipeline, and being part of their innovative ecosystem makes College Park the optimal choice for WeWork’s first location in the State of Maryland,” she said.
WeWork will be located adjacent to The Hotel at the University of Maryland in a repurposed building—just steps away from the center of campus—and across the street from Diamondback Garage, which will house university entrepreneurship resources and private sector companies, including Capital One’s Innovation Lab, and cybersecurity firms BlueVoyant and Immuta.
“College Park is thriving and the Discovery District is proving to be a destination for startups and established companies alike to grow their businesses,” said Ken Ulman, UMD’s chief strategy officer for economic development. “We are proud that WeWork recognizes the University of Maryland is an economic engine helping to fuel the State’s innovation economy.”
The Discovery District is part of UMD’s Greater College Park initiative, a $2 billion public-private investment to rapidly revitalize the Baltimore Avenue corridor and academic campus, which includes dynamic academic spaces, a public-private research hub, and vibrant downtown community.
WeWork University of Maryland will offer coworking and office space, including more than 300 desks, conference rooms, and communal areas. The space will include standard WeWork offerings, such as private offices, dedicated desks, and hot desks. Hot desks give workers unlimited access to any available workspace in the location of their choice, while dedicated desks give unlimited access to a personal workstation.
WeWork has been characterized as a leader and transformative in the coworking space, focusing on creating a culture of collaboration, flexibility, and creativity.
Baltimore-area based Chesapeake Realty Partners, a leader in adaptive reuse and land development, will lead the design and construction. “Chesapeake Realty Partners is delighted to, once again, partner with WeWork to create an incredible coworking space — this time located in the heart of the Discovery District within the University of Maryland,” said Lawrence M. Macks, Co-Chairman and CEO. “UMD has proved to be a great partner for both WeWork and Chesapeake Partners, and we are proud to be involved with this transformational project.”
“Maryland is the most innovative state in the country, so it’s the ideal place for WeWork to launch its first campus location,” said Maryland Commerce Secretary Mike Gill. “College Park is a hub for both entrepreneurship and cutting-edge research, and the vast pool of talent connected to the university will benefit from the array of workspaces WeWork has to offer.”
“Under the leadership of Dr. Wallace Loh, the University of Maryland, along with the City of College Park and Prince George’s County, have worked to transform College Park into a vibrant college town comparable to any in the nation,” said Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III. “WeWork’s decision to locate its first college campus location in Maryland in College Park is a testament to the progress made in achieving that goal. WeWork will be an exciting resource for the entrepreneurs, innovators, and researchers that we want to see fuel the economic growth in the University of Maryland’s Discovery District.”
The news of WeWork’s location in College Park has local entrepreneurs eager to move in.
“WeWork will help bridge the gap between dorm room and laboratory startup to the next phase, providing students and faculty a world-class co-working and office environment to incubate their nascent businesses,” said UMD Entrepreneur-in-Residence Harry Geller.
“There is so much great talent and work coming out of UMD, and projects like the new WeWork reaffirm that College Park is ready to support our entrepreneurs as they move into the next phases of their ventures,” said Matthew Fan, co-director of the Startup Shell, a student-run incubator at UMD.
WeWork University of Maryland is expected to open in fall 2018.
