Relo Team Report to Community

December 17, 2019 by Shambhala_Portland_1

Relocation Team Report to Community

December 14, 2019

History: The Relocation Team formed in Dec. 2016 to explore purchasing a new
Center. We considered several options including the Carnegie Building as well as the
property on Glisan. Then the dual impact of the Buddhist Sunshine reports and
subsequent investigations plus the sticker shock of purchasing and extensive repairs
needed at Glisan led us to change from buying to leasing.

This became urgent: To prepare for selling Carnegie, the owner set a rent increase of
from $2,300 to $3,000 monthly in early 2019, going to $3,500 the following year. The
building sold in July, and the new owners’ gave us a verbal okay for a year lease at
$3,500 starting Feb. 1, 2020.

To find a new location, we explored: shared space with other organizations, subletting
from churches, offices at the Lloyd Center. Finally we started working with a commercial
leasing agent, Brendan Smith. From an initial list of properties, he showed four to
educate us about availability in our price range.

To explore and narrow choices, we held a community conversation, posted blogs, a
town hall meeting, held viewings including a survey sent out to all members. Some
options were too small, poorly located or had no kitchen.
We landed on the Sandy house as our most desirable option. It had many good
features and was well liked, but we also found the possible shrine room quite limited
plus the presence of mold. Mold became a deal-breaker.

Finally RELO recommended to Council, the actual decision makers, that we not pursue
Sandy. Instead, sign a year lease on Carnegie space to buy us time.

Learned and to learn:
 Leasing market tight in our “drala” basin for all reasons we like it.
 Solicit feedback from departments (P&E, Council, Affinity Groups, etc.) about
what is needed and what desired. E.G. maximum-minimum class size, shrine
room size, kitchen, extra rooms needed.
 RELO will put together a list of what is non-negotiable plus nice-to-have features.
Will continue working to find a workable and affordable new location to
recommend to Council for Portland Shambhala.
 Need to find an acceptable balance between what ideally we want and what we
can afford and where

Going forward:
 Three retirees: Doug, Mark and Jay
 New Coordinator: Happy Barnes-Light, Nancy continues to scribe.
 Possible new members—let one of us know if interested. Or contact Happy. E: [email protected]

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