KurtJ - 01 May 2010 11:33 PM

With Church membership declining, old church buildings should be relatively cheap.  Would converting a church building turn anyone off?

I like the evolutionary resonances of this sort of approach, the sense of being like a small mammal sometime during the Jurassic. At least, that’s how I would try to sell the idea.

Opportunities knock for the opportunist.

Downside is not knowing how much casual foot traffic might actually be turned off or spooked or just confused by it. “Our Lady of Perpetual Temporary Irreverence” is probably not the first shingle I’d put up!

Has anyone considered a location inside the Vancouver Mall or somewhere else that is high visibility, e.g. mall, shopping center, etc?

http://westfield.com/corporate/property-portfolio/united-states/leasing/index.html

Philomath - 03 May 2010 08:19 PM

Has anyone considered a location inside the Vancouver Mall or somewhere else that is high visibility, e.g. mall, shopping center, etc?

http://westfield.com/corporate/property-portfolio/united-states/leasing/index.html

Oh my, what an excuse to be in a mall!  When I worked at the department store in the mall they had to make me leave in the evenings…

This is what I mean by doing a zip code analysis—people’s definitions of “central” might differ, and we know Beaverton Atheists had a lot going as CFI started up.  And it seems to me that “affordable real estate” and “central,” if “central” means a certain distance radiating from Portland City Hall,  might cancel each other out.  Like having to rent to get into a “central” location…vs a better investment that is less convenient

Seems like we want storage space, meeting space, storefrontage for message sending and?

There’s some interesting spaces downtown between the library and Burnside…there’s interesting spaces over by Free Geek…  Affordable?  What’s our budget?

Lynne

Income Potential:
  I wonder what the income potential is within our CFI/ Humanist et al community for supporting a larger center?  If a larger center is an option, are there CFI entrpreneurs who would like space that they could lease from the center for offices? shops? counseling? massage?  or ??? and of course would CFI Portland want to have these lease contract responsibilities?

Could it be a registered resource for use in public emergencies, and for teaching classes in CPR, earthquake preparedness and the like? That might matter to our choice of venue—as in, needing it to meet a conceivably stricter building code than applies to either residential or commercial structures generally.

How about a place that could illustrate green practices of construction or renovation, energy efficiency and green power? Is there anyone who has a secular world view and a respect for scientific institutions for whom the threat of catastrophic climate change is not an urgent and foremost concern? For us to choose as the our public face a structure that did not show at least an effort to minimize our carbon footprint would seem almost hypocritical, in that regard.

Building of interest: 817 North Russel $445,000
100 year old 2 story wood structure commercial building.
Realator: Macadam forbes 227-2500
Plusses in sherry’s opinion are:
—Two Story Building 2300 sq ft (not too big/ not too little)
—retail space at street level, (a few nearby retail businesses could bring some potential customers)
—upper level has its own separate outside entrance.
—either the upstairs or the downstairs (or both) could be leased out for income
—2 blocks to lightrail yellow line.
—“worst” retail bldg in gentrified neighborhood (but although bldg is 100 yrs old, it looks in decent repair).
—close in north PDX VERY CENTRAL
— upper level and lower level have OPEN spaces big enough for most of our meetings
—Could eventually use both upstairs and downstairs for multiple activites.
—sunny/bright building, big windows & no ungly views. Aestheically appealing.
—Small back yard could be a quaint garden space.
—urban renewal neighborhood means some sort of tax relief.
—Potential to increase value with facelift/ paint etc.
Unknowns:
—no idea what comparable prices are for such a property = don’t know if
it is extremely over priced or if it is reasonable… no idea if they would come down in price.
—no idea what the financial benefit of urban renewal zone actually is.
—no idea how sound the building actually is, especially in an earthquake as it is next to a brick bldg.
—no idea how much income could be generated by leasing space(s).
—It is a small retail neighborhood of boutique shops but not far from larger busier retail neighborhoods.
***that’s my thoughts, submitted as a reference for future building conversations.***

So…what ended up happening here.

I am a new member in Seattle, is there a local group up thisa way?