Portland's newest coworking space is aimed at the city's robust community of B Corp companies.
Called Place to B, it is roughly 6,000 square feet at 1661 S.E. Third Ave. It’s been open since the start of February and has had seven companies move in, said co-founder Erin Fish. That represents about 15 to 20 people working in the space.
Place to B is an LLC founded by Fish, who is also founder of travel insurance company Wanderwell; Kellen Moody, founder of event and meeting planner Alluvium Gatherings and past board chair of B Local PDX; and Corey Omey, owner of the firm EMA Architecture. All three of their companies are certified B Corps.
Fish and others in the B Corp community have been toying with the idea of a coworking space for more than five years. They saw a physical space as an important hub for people to collaborate with each other.
“I think there is a difference in companies that are certified B Corps and nonprofits and values-aligned companies,” said Fish. “Survival of the fittest doesn’t always cut it. It’s survival of those who collaborate best. These companies and nonprofits, we want to be in spaces together and working and creating a hub for ideas that have serious impact and levity. That is part of our vision.”
Membership to the space is open to Certified B Corp companies, 1% for the planet companies and benefit corporations. Values aligned nonprofits are also welcomed. Some affiliate organizations of the space include B Local PDX, Business for a Better Portland and GlobalPDX. A full list of membership criteria is on the website.
Coworking spaces were a growing part of the office landscape before the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the group was ready to establish this space just weeks before the world went into lockdown in March 2020, said Fish.
There are still several coworking spaces operating in Portland including locally based CENTRL Office, women-focused Vida, a location of WeWork and newly opened Kiln. However, Fish said the founding team thought a space designed for values-based companies was still needed.
“I personally have been working out of coworking spaces for the past 11 years,” said Fish. “And I noticed there wasn’t a lot of collaboration within them. The bigger spaces seemed to have an air of uncertainty. We have this community that is already galvanized and wanting to work together so it felt like the right time to create a space and process and venue to all come together.”
So far members are everything from solo entrepreneurs, small startup teams or people who are remote workers for large organizations.
The Killian space was selected after the founders were introduced to the developer through the team at Nossa Familia, which is also a B Corp. Place to B is next door to the Nossa Familia cafe in the Central Eastside. The other aspect that moved the group toward a Killian Pacific space is the developer became a certified B Corp last fall.
