Farewell Chinatown Location
Dear community,
Happy new year. Cole and I love this time of year, the pace slows down, the connections and intentions get made. We turn the calendar towards what's next with the anticipation and hope that comes as we look ahead and imagine what is possible. It's not always accessible or easy to dream in the true infinite possibilities but something about the dark season bringing all our festivals of light and the transition of the calendar helps us hold the expansiveness of what could be.
We try our best to balance that hope and optimism of the dream with a reflection of what happened in the past year and a check in about goals met or not, values held or lost, love given and received and harm produced or felt.
It is in this energy of reflection, accountability and hope for more flow, financial foundations and activation of dreams that we have some big news.
openHAUS coworking Chinatown will be closing on Jan 31, 2023
Cole and I set a goal of having enough memberships, partnerships and activations of our Chinatown location by the end of 2022 to cover its own expenses. Without proof of concept by this financial consistency the space has proven itself unsustainable and we are making the very hard choice to close it. We absolutely love the energy of suite 309 and the Merchant Hotel and the grit and fortitude of the businesses and people who call Chinatown their home. We see a shift in the neighborhood and have so treasured fueling some energy here and drawing from it during our tenure. However, it is a boulder that we can not force up the hill and by closing, we hope to invest our energy deeper into the foundations of our community and brand and start dreaming up openHAUS' next phase of sustainable growth.
Current members are invited to join us at our Dream Street Location in NE Portland at MLK and Alberta. We aren't going anywhere, still holding intentionally inclusive space as well as office and community resources for Portland's artists, entrepreneurs and remote workers to grow, connect and champion for the safe world we all deserve. Exit The Maze headquarters will be relocating to our Dream Street Location and isn't going anywhere either.
We thank you for your love, support and energy for our family and this Chinatown location as we've invited folks to work, network, play, create, celebrate and be in space together. It has been tremendous. As we've come to terms with this decision we've certainly held a bit of regret or "if only we had done xyz". This is a part of our grief process as the hopes and dreams of this place didn't come to fruition. Some of that is on us, and we move forward with some good lessons learned. Some of it is on the neighborhood which needs so much more love and resources than a few small businesses can hold.
We thank our landlords for the opportunity but also challenge them to not put the labor of turning the neighborhood around on the backs of Black owned businesses. You see, we got a great lease as a part of a bigger project to create a hub of Black owned businesses here at the Merchant hotel and Chinatown. A great lease in an undesired part of town with a lot of challenges. By bringing in more businesses the neighborhood would have more people putting energy and money into the area during the day and also bring activity to the vacant spaces. This is definitely a win for the neighborhood and landlords. But if the neighborhood scares away potential clients or is otherwise unsustainable for those businesses we need to have even more support for those that are choosing to pave the way towards an activated, safe(r) and thriving Chinatown. We'd love to see more investment from the city and the landlords here and more creative opportunities for owner occupied buildings to be made available. We now know to be more careful of what appears to be generous offers and really look at the costs of these types of opportunities moving forward. Our hope and optimism is not always enough to make it work.
So we end this year closing a chapter and by closing it creating even more energy to drive forward our vision of what's next.
How about you? How do you hold intention and reflection at this time of year? What are you releasing or welcoming?
Looking ahead together, with love and appreciation!
Cole and Day Reed
"Desires that arise in agitation are more aligned with your ego. Desires that arise in stillness are more aligned with your soul." Cory Muscara
