Vancouver's WorkSpace to close doors this week

It's a sad day for Vancouver's tech scene.

Definitely a sad day....too bad.....:(

Nobody tells me nuthin. And I sat here watching them take out all the paintings yesterday, too.

It's too bad they couldn't hang on a few months more; the turnaround that we are all feeling is no phantom. Oh well, gotta go give the Network Hub a call...

Regardless of how it has come to this, I really have to thank ALL of the WorkSpace team over the years for being such an anchor space. It's unfortunate that the *business* of WorkSpace didn't strive.

My only wish is that a "rallying cry" could have gone up earlier, but I fully understand that these things can happen.

Yes, much love to Bill and Dane for creating this amazing space, and to Greg and the other staff over the years, you guys/gals all rock.

as tweeted in response to Raul's blog post (http://hummingbird604.com/2009/08/19/workspace-closing-its-doors-how-can-we-show-our-appreciation/ )

+1 on community token of appreciation for @workspace folks (not in any order): @danebro, @macewen, @gregeh & @jaysonminardabout

(and somehow my 2nd paragraph disappeared...) Brokenhearted to lose the space - have to echo Boris and say I wish we'd known earlier so we could have at least tried to save the space. It will be sorely missed.

I think it's really sad to see Workspace go, especially as they formed one of a very small number of "pillars" supporting the grassroots technology community.

A challenge for Vancouver is that there are so few who step up to provide facilities for these events in Vancouver. So, the big question is: who will step up to fill the void?

This is critical to the growth of Vancouver's technology scene, but it can't be done by a single company.

Does YOUR company have a giant conference room or facility it would be willing to lend to the community for meetups, events, unconferences? Then you and your company should step up - don't wait to be asked!

I remember my first time at Workspace when I attended Barcamp Vancouver 2007. I chatted with Darren Barefoot about Malta, met Linda Bustos for the first time and Bill MacEwen made me the best Vanilla latte in town.

I'm sad that Workspace is being shut down. Props to the Workspace community and I'll definitely miss the tech events I attended there.

As I mentioned in my blog post, I'd like to see some form of appreciation take place and I second everyone in thanking Dane, Jayson, Greg, everyone at WorkSpace.

I would also like people to consider stepping back for a little and consider that a space like WorkSpace needs to be a for-profit venture, otherwise it's unsustainable. No government grant is eternal, and in this current economic climate, no business model appears to be perfect either.

I think David Drucker's idea of a government-industry-academia collaboration (what is known in the innovation literature as the triple helix kind of model collaboration) would be ideal, but I'm pretty skeptical about the participation of local universities (though who knows, maybe CPROST from SFU would be interested). I am an academic, after all, so allow me and forgive me for being skeptical.

I'd be very interested to hear Jayson, Bill, Dane explain more about the situation with WorkSpace (should they decide to share it with the community). Once we know more about what led to the demise of the company, we can (as a community) rally together and try and re-create a WorkSpace 2.0 or whatever form it takes.

I know that both Kontent Creative and The Network Hub (where I have my office space) have volunteered space to host non-profit, community-based, grasroots events from the community (Network Hub has supported many meetups, including Third Tuesday).

Again, thanks so much to WorkSpace. As I said on my post, I am really honored and grateful to have had my events supported.

Sad to hear the news. Lost track of how many tech/web/other type of talks, events and conferences I've attended at Workspace. It was a great space, and the good tea & view helped.

Would be nice if someone could resurrect it, but if not I hope some other places around town will step up to the plate to help the digitally inclined find a great place to come together for community events.

Thanks to all the owners and employees who helped open and keep open Workspace's doors to the various communities that they did. Workplace may be gone but the Karma you've built up has not.

I'm probably not supposed to say this, which of course makes saying it all the sweeter, but Thursday night is going to be the last epic sunset at Workspace, so come on out and bring whatever you happen to have on hand. Sunset starts getting gorgeous around 8-8:30, continues till 9:30 or so, but we've got till 5pm Friday.

For those looking for space, check out the new Discovery Parks Vancouver Commercialization Centre. They have a special offer for tech start-ups.

Call Tom Douglas at (604) 734-7275.

Hi Cindy: we haven't forgotten about the Discovery Parks space, but I don't think they're ready to host ad hoc, month to month usage at a per desk rate. I could be wrong -- I'll give Tom / Mark a call and see what they think.

The other fact is that they're probably a bit too far outside the downtown core for this kind of co-working.

Update: I am wrong. Discovery Parks has some "Start up centre" rates that are really really reasonable. I'm trying to find a public place to post links to rates. Info on the building here - http://www.discoveryparks.com/listings/dpv_overview.ph

I saw workspace when it was just a gutted space with wires hanging from the ceiling, and I went to events after it opened, when it was just -- well, it was still concrete and wires, but it had character, too, you know? :)

Thanks Workspace, for all that you did for Vancouver's tech scene, and for Hop Studios specifically, too.

I don't have too much to say here.

However I do remember standing in a very vacant room with no chairs walls or wifi trying to convince the digerati that we should host Barcamp 2006. We did, and we had fun. Thanks for coming out.

Another alternative is Minna Van's The Network Hub http://www.thenetworkhub.ca/ at 422 Richards Street. Similar concept to Workspace and they have various meetups hosted there and Vancouver WordPress camp etc. Been to quite a few events there, good place. I think they're currently full but for future reference.

Workspace was awesome. I miss it already.

We're above workspace on the 5th floor and could not have asked for better neighbours. You will be sorely missed in the community.

Thanks to Dane and the workspace crew for a better place to work back in '08. We spent many hours hunkered down in meeting rooms with our lattes, producing fundfindr.tv video and enjoying the Workplace vibe. Kudos guys and best in the future!

People are working and have been for a while on co-location or shared workspace or coworking as the Wikipedia wants to call it. Recollective is hosting a meeting about this, get Googling and others have been talking about making space available.

More news soon maybe.

We will be offering coworking space on a monthly basis for 200 bucks at 163 East Pender in Chinatown. We will also make the entire space available for meetings and events. It will be ready by the end of November so if you want to learn more or see the space as is, ie not finished let me know.

This will be run as a social enterprise via my employer Building Opportunities with Business, a non-profit working to revitalize Vancouver's inner-city.