Why Verizon wants to be a landlord for start-ups

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At Verizon, massive buildings that used to be filled with bulky computers, copper cables and other gear are sitting vacant, as advances in fiber-optics and computers cut down on the need for equipment space. The shift has rendered more than 80 percent of the company’s real estate footprint obsolete, spurring a $2 billion sell-off in property. Then someone in Verizon’s real estate department happen to take notice of the recent boom in co-working spaces, in which start-ups, freelancers and some larger companies pay to co-locate together in castoff office space or other underused buildings. The telephone company saw a connection.

The result is “Alley, powered by Verizon,” a co-working space slated to open on June 29 at 2055 L St. NW. The company hired local artists to bring a sense of hipness to rooms once filled with telecommunications equipment and even kept a retro feel by preserving a room full of ancient mainframe computers. Verizon is collaborating with Alley, a New York co-working space operator to run the space and share in the revenue.


Why Verizon wants to be a landlord for start-ups