The best laid plans can still result in epic fail 0
We’ve had an unfortunate turn of events working out a new location for okcCoCo. We had a new location picked, renovations planned and our move scheduled but at the very last minute, the landlord of the property decided to back out. Even after efforts to resolve the situation, we were unable to come to an agreement.
Therefore, we’ve been investigating alternative locations. Needless to say, this will put us off our original schedule. This might affect you because we will need to shut down the okcCoCo on the 15th of March.
We’re looking to find a facility as soon as possible. I’m sorry I can’t provide more details now but as you can see, there are a number of factors outside of our direct control. We’re highly motivated to find a location, because it means, many of us are currently without office space.
We are confident that we will be able to find a new location and create an awesome new okcCoCo for everyone in the community to enjoy. We ask for your patience while we work to make this happen.
We’re sorry that we will have this unfortunate hiccup, but please know we are working to find a solution. If you have any questions or suggestions, or know of an ideal space for the okcCoCo, please get in touch with us! We will provide updates when we have more information.
the okcCoCo Founders
Update: A bit more about our search for a location.
We’ve been looking for a new location for the okcCoCo since last year. The primary reason that we decided to pursue a new location was that the expense of our current location had been dramatically increasing over time. This last year our ability to cover the expenses of rent, utilities and insurance (our only expenses) were stretched beyond the limits, depleting all our funds. Not only had our rent been on an increasing ramp, our electricity costs last summer quadrupled. It was a hot summer, but we were also negatively affected by changes the landlord made to the electrical wiring in the building. It was clear that we needed a solution, and that if we didn’t move out of our current location, we would not be able to cover our expenses for another year.
We started to look at alternative, less expensive locations in Midtown. After much searching, we found and put together a plan to move into a vacant warehouse near the railroad tracks and the highway in Midtown. While the space was raw, the very low rent rate would allow us lots of space and flexibility. All we would need to provide would be the sweat equity to improve the location ourselves. As this was the strategy that we used with our current location, this was an appealing opportunity. One significant issue with that location was its location adjacent to the train tracks and the noise associated with the train whistles. At that time, the city had in place a plan to build a quite zone for the train throughout Midtown in order to encourage development in the area. To our discouragement, the city cancelled all plans for the quite zone when a Dallas developer backed out of a large development effort to build high end apartments in Midtown. That decision made it impossible for us to pursue this location any further and set us back significantly in our search for a new okcCoCo location.
We were quite happy to have subsequently found the location that we described in the indiegogo campaign. The property was being offered at a low rental rate, and had an existing floor plan that included offices and large common areas, both ideal for our purposes. At 10,000 sqft, the property offered the opportunity to expand our foot print and for us to expand the kinds of services that we offered. There was a lot of potential in that property. The primary drawbacks of the property were the quite outdated interior and less modern floor plan. We had worked magic with the outdated facility that was the original okcCoCo, and were confident that we could work magic again on this new facility.
We needed two things to happen in order for this location to work out financially. We needed to find funds to renovate the facility, and we needed enough tenants to agree to locate to the new facility. Both of these things we believed were possible. We put together a vision of the new okcCoCo, held two public open houses at the facility, and launched an indiegogo campaign. We were very pleased and honored to find so much support in the community for the okcCoCo. Our campaign was funded in excess of our request thanks to many many generous people who clearly appreciate the value that an organization like the okcCoCo brings to the community.
We were quite dismayed to find out shortly thereafter that some 70% of our current tenants had decided that they weren’t willing to move to the new location, and had instead decided to make alternative arrangements at other locations. When we inquired, the feedback was that our tenants were interested in having offices in a modern facility and that they didn’t think that even with our modernization plans, that the proposed facility would meet their standards. We knew it would be hard for people to see the vision, but really didn’t think it would be a show stopper. This turn of events made us think deeply about the okcCoCo and our membership. What we realized was that those tenants who left, neither participated nor contributed to the community or events at okcCoCo. They were at the okcCoCo exclusively to take advantage of our great location, facility and relatively low rental rates. So, in retrospect it is not at all surprising that these tenants decided to move elsewhere when the core of our proposal at the new facility was the expansions of community spaces, services and events, without corresponding improvements in the office spaces.
With this new understanding, we came to believe that the okcCoCo would best be served by focusing on providing community services including space for coworking, user groups and events, rather than on providing office spaces to anyone who was able to pay. Thus we started our search for a very different type of location. However our search was even more constrained. We were forced to look for smaller spaces because of our monthly revenues were now cut in more than half by the departure of so many tenants. We also needed to find a space ready to move in with very little renovation because of the time crunch. This was a challenge.
After much searching and many site visits, we found an ideal property that was at one time the offices of a physical therapist. It had a large common area, and handful of patient rooms that would work well as conference rooms. The space was modern, and only needed minor renovations. Moreover because of the reduced size, the rental rate was within our budget. We proceeded to negotiate a lease, create designs and plans for the space, had contractors provide quotes for the renovations and put together a timeline for moving into the facility that would keep our doors open without interruption. To our great disappointment, at last minute, the landlord decided to withdraw from the negotiation for what I can only describe to be arbitrary and capricious reasons. Even after efforts to resolve the situation, we were unable to move forward.
Here we are today, back on page one, looking for a new space. Because the lease at our current location is almost up, we’ve decided to temporarily suspend operations until such time that we can find and renovate a property that will serve the community for years to come. We’ve put in a lot of hard work to make the okcCoCo what it is and will continue to do our best open a new okcCoCo as soon as possible. We ask for your patience while we work to make this happen.
