Co-working giant WeWork’s rapid Bay Area growth is continuing with the company’s second location in San Jose.

WeWork leased 72,160 square feet at 333 W. San Carlos St., near a light-rail station and the San Jose Convention Center. The New York company designs and operates offices and rents them out to entrepreneurs and large companies for a monthly fee.

The company has ridden a tech boom and billions in venture capital investment to expand aggressively. It more than doubled its locations in the Bay Area in the past year to a total of about 2 million square feet. It signed two San Francisco deals this year and its first in Marin County.

Critics have questioned whether WeWork’s $20 billion valuation is justified and wondered about the company’s resiliency in an economic downturn if demand for co-working space drops.

The new San Jose space, opening in December, includes 1,344 desks on four floors.

“We’re thrilled to be expanding in San Jose, a beautifully diverse and vibrant community ripe with innovation,” said Elton Kwok, WeWork’s Northern California general manager, in a statement.

The company entered San Jose in 2016 with a 75,000-square-foot lease at 75 E. Santa Clara St. WeWork also completed a deal for a 450,000-square-foot complex in Mountain View that will be entirely occupied by Facebook.

San Jose has cheaper office space than many other Silicon Valley cities, according to brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. In the first quarter, downtown San Jose’s average annual asking rent was $44 per square foot, less than half that of Palo Alto and Menlo Park, according to the firm.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf