souk will be closing its doors on July 31, 2011. Thank you to everyone who comprised souk’s community. Look out for tweets @soukportland over the next month where we’ll celebrate people and group highlights from the last 5 years. Please share your highlights too.
For the curious, we are closing for three main reasons: 1. Our family has recently moved to Bend, something we’ve been working towards for several years. My attention is now focused in Central Oregon. 2. We suddenly had several, small companies – anchors of our membership – graduate from the space. This has been a positive move for them, and we are happy to once again have been a place where nascent companies start small and flourish; it’s just one, proud part of what souk had to offer. 3. Our lease comes up at the end of this year. Our relocation, along with significant membership graduations that will require huge investment and attention to rebuild, and a lease that expires at the end of this year, leads us to the decision to close our doors. If someone is interested in taking on this space-model of build, grow and graduate small companies as well as nurture individuals, I would love to discuss that with you and share what we’ve learned. I will no longer be on point to do this at souk, and for souk, but it doesn’t mean the concept (or a version thereof) can’t live on under someone else’s guidance. We are grateful to all who have joined us on the forefront of the growing movement of coworking. I intend to continue to lend support and connections to the wonderful entrepreneurs, the tech community, creatives, and those who simply want to participate in community both through my board work and through all the great coworking spaces out there, http://wiki.coworking.info/w/page/29303049/Directory. Between now and July 31st we will be offering our desks and Herman Miller chairs for sale. The lease to our 5000 sqft, light-filled, great space is also up for grabs (expires Dec 1, 2011), and I will gladly facilitate negotiations with the landlord if you’re interested in taking it over. Cheers. Julie -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
