Adam Neumann wants to spend $300million to turn Miami tent city into offices and apartments for new startup Flow

WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann plans to spend $300 million on Miami’s “tent city” area to transform it from an area riddled with homelessness to one with luxury living conditions.

Neumann, through his real estate startup Flow, plans to develop rental apartments, retail space and small offices in the city center.

Neumann, 43, worth an estimated $1.7 billion, wants to build all the buildings within walking distance of each other, according to blueprints submitted March 11.

The developments are expected to be completed by 2025 and the developer is “in the process of submitting an application to obtain approval for the current development plan,” according to the municipal offering document.

A spokeswoman for Flow confirmed to Bloomberg News that the company owns and hopes to build in the area known as Miami Worldcenter.

The 43-year-old founder of WeWork, who is worth an estimated $1.7 billion, wants to spend $300 million on Miami’s ‘tent city’ area at Miami Worldcenter

Neumann plans to transform it from an area full of homelessness to an area with luxury apartments and shops

Miami Worldcenter is a 20-acre urban redevelopment venture consisting of multiple city blocks and several developers.

It has been plagued lately with a large number of homeless people and tents on the streets.

Flow raised $350 million from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in August 2022 at a $1 billion valuation.

Miami Worldcenter is raising approximately $240 million through the sale of municipal bonds as part of the deal.

The deal is expected to be priced on March 26, according to the document seen by Bloomberg.

Together, the buildings could be worth about $300 million, according to an estimate by Concord Group, a real estate consultancy.

Neumann is also preparing a bid to take back control of WeWork, the company he founded and built into a $47 billion real estate conglomerate before being ousted and declared bankrupt.

The entrepreneur was kicked out of WeWork in 2019 after allegations of inappropriate behavior, including leaving marijuana rolled up in a cereal box on a borrowed private plane.

Miami Worldcenter is a 20-acre urban redevelopment venture consisting of multiple city blocks and several developers. It has been plagued lately with a large number of homeless people and tents on the streets

Neumann founded Flow after he was unceremoniously kicked out of WeWork in 2019

Adam Neumann and business partner Miguel McKelvey opened the first WeWork location in New York City in 2010.

The idea was to make office work more of a collective experience, and the New York City space was rented out for months or years to freelancers, startups and other companies.

In 2014, the company was valued at $4.6 billion, and major investors such as JP Morgan Chase & Co., T. Rowe Price Associates, Wellington Management, and Goldman Sachs Group began investing in the company.

But at the same time, Neumann began to enjoy his newfound wealth and started spending money frivolously.

Skepticism soon grew over how the company could maintain its high value, but Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company SoftBank decided to take a risk in 2017 and invest $4.4 billion in the company, bringing its value to $20 billion .

In 2018, things started to come to a head, with employees speaking out about working conditions at the company while Neumann bought his own private jet for $60 million.

Still, SoftBank decided to invest another $2 billion in WeWork, valuing it at $47 billion.

The company then filed paperwork to go public in August 2019, detailing for the first time how Neumann had billed the company for personal expenses.

Neumann is also preparing a bid to take back control of WeWork, the company he founded and built into a $47 billion real estate conglomerate before being ousted and declared bankrupt.

The next month, WeWork executives announce they are delaying the IPO offering as they push Neumann out of the company and sell his private jet.

SoftBank subsequently agreed to buy nearly $1 billion worth of stock from him and paid Neumann nearly $200 million in advisory and other fees.

To this day, Neumann still has an 11 percent stake in WeWork, which is now valued at about $4 billion, and itself worth $1.6 billion.

In the meantime, the company is starting to regain ground.

In 2021, new CEO Sandeep Mathrani cut overhead costs by $1.1 billion and $400 million in operating expenses, improving WeWork’s free cash flow by $1.6 billion.

The company quickly let go of 106 underperforming or yet-to-open locations and negotiated more than 100 lease changes that will give WeWork a $4 billion cut on future rent payments.

At the same time, WeWork signed $850 million in leases – the highest amount since fall 2019.