Remote.ly is dropping out of the coworking sector after reaching a deal with the video streaming company Brandlive to take over its space on North Mississippi Avenue.
Brandlive was already taking more and more space inside the building at 3303 N. Mississippi Ave. as its business grows. The company earlier this year laid out plans to essentially double its workforce.
Remote.ly founder Oliver Alexander told customers by email on Thursday that Brandlive, which has seen "explosive growth" and rents 2 1/2 floors already, would need all five floors of the Remote.ly space.
"We made the very bittersweet decision to move forward with an agreement with them," Alexander explained. "The impact of this agreement is pretty absolute — Remote.ly and our meeting/event venue Skyrise will cease all public-facing operations with our last day of operations being 12/31/2021." Coworking and event services will continue until then.
Brandlive moves into the remaining space on Jan. 1.
Other names in Portland coworking have pulled back operations or sold this year. The founders of NedSpace, which started in 2009 and is among the city's earliest coworking firms, sold their company to Vive Northwest. Collective Agency, which opened in 2011, declined to renew one of its leases, paring down to one last location. Meanwhile, WeWork only has two locations remaining in Portland, down from four.
Remote.ly workers are slated to work for Brandlive, according to a late September blog post. "Come 2022 and beyond, our team will become part of the Brandlive team," Alexander wrote in that blog. "For myself, a relaxed summer of recovery and self-care is coming to a close, just in time to begin my new position as Director of Sales on the Brandlive team."
Alexander wrote that revenue actually increased by 89% during the Covid-19 pandemic. "In this way, it feels unsettling for Remote.ly to cease its public operations and become Brandlive's private headquarters, especially when considering the increased need for workspace that the ever-growing remote workforce presents," he wrote in the blog.
"However, the optimistic elements of our situation are countered by the realities that Covid created," he said. "Unpredictable demand plus the ever-present worry of potentially exposing our community to mutating Covid strains left us in a difficult position — do we continue to operate as is and hope that the pandemic is fully over in X months? Or do we proceed with this new route before fully realizing our mission of helping others to achieve the American dream?
"I made the decision to proceed with the agreement because the next 1-2 years present too many variables that are outside of our control and the terms of the agreement were favorable for all parties involved," Alexander wrote.
