Tuesday, January 22, 2008

building p:ear


It is the coldest day of the year so far. We are giving away hats and coats like crazy, and the "heater" at our space at Southwest Park and Alder is now, for some unknown reason, blowing cold air on us. Every time someone opens the door, which is hundreds of times a day, a cold draft wafts across the room.
It is days like today that the physical limitations of our current facility stand before us starkly, and days like today that we think a lot about the new building.
As we move toward the goal of buying it, remodeling it, and moving into it, we want to stay in touch with the community about our progress. It is one way to share our excitement with you, and to keep you up to date. We are building p:ear together.
We would not be where we are without the help of the services of SERA Architects, PAE Consulting Engineers, KPFF Consulting Engineers and Fortis Construction. In addition, the generosity and support of Leslie Trim and Iraj Vojdani has been ongoing and unsurpassed.
We are looking forward to breaking ground on the remodel in mid-February, and will be showing you the phases of the building process as they happen, so check back, or add us to your RSS feed.
At the same time we are anticipating the changes ahead, we are working hard to raise the money to buy this building. Through the generosity of the community, we have raised nearly $850,000 towards our $2 million dollar goal. We are always amazed at the depth of care and commitment that Portland has for p:ear. The p:ear community stretches well beyond the borders of the tri-county area, and we also want to extend a big thank-you to folks from all over the country who have given their time, money and goodwill to p:ear. If you would like to join us and contribute to the building project, please call us at 503-228-6677.
Stay warm !
the staff at p:ear -- Beth, Joy, Pippa, Sarah, Christine and Rodolfo.