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davis_squareI'm looking for a resource, and I'm having trouble finding it, so I thought I'd ask this comm if anybody here has ideas or leads.
I'm looking for space to hold some small occasional meetings. I'm a therapist who has started offering, as a commercial service, a kind of training seminar for junior therapists. I'm having trouble finding appropriate space to rent for this.
What I am trying to find is a space with seating for 5 to 11 people. It could be chairs in a ring, living-room style, or seminar-style around a table -- really any configuration that supports having a conversation. I don't drive, so it would need to be T-accessible so I could get there. It would need to have a door that closes so we could discuss confidential things. I'm looking for something I can rent on an hourly basis, on Friday or Saturday afternoons or evenings.
And -- here's what's making this hard -- it needs to be wheelchair accessible and affordable.
I am discovering that while wheelchair accessibility doens't much impact the rental rates of large or even medium-sized function spaces, on the very small end of the market, it's something like a factor of four or more on the price of the space.
For example, I have a space in Porter Square that adequately meets my all my requirements except wheelchair accessibility, for $10/hr. I've found other similar spaces, also for about that rate, with the same limited accessibility. Meanwhile, down the street, Lesley University is willing to rent out classrooms in the Porter Exchange building, which is thoroughly accessible. The rate sheet on their website tells me they rent on the basis of the "half day", four hour blocks, and fees start at $250 per. Which on an hourly basis is more than six times what I'm paying; considered on a per-rental basis, it's more than twelve times what I paid to hold a two hour training.
The absolutely cheapest place I've found so far that also has wheelchair accessibility is $40/hr, and that's way out in the outer burbs (Braintree) with questionable/non-existent T-accessibility. Everything I've found closer is radically more expensive -- and often tricked out in fancy amenities I do not want, and absolutely don't want to pay for.
For instance, there are business rental spaces advertising on Craigslist, that are super-swank and super-spendy all-singing-all-dancing A/V-enabled WiFi-having free-coffee-serving "Class A" office spaces and that are about $60/hr. (Oooh, one in Kendall Square is having a $500/day sale!) Hotel space is, as best I can find out, similarly priced.
At those sorts of prices, I literally can't afford to offer this service. Heck, I suspect that if I were willing to offer the training pro bono and ask the students just to cover the cost of the room rental, it would still price me out of reach!
Thing is, I really don't need spaces that fancy. I need no A/V or internet capability. I don't need free printing or a receptionist. Really, run-down and amenity-free would be fine.
I'm hoping that I could economize by finding a humbler space, or one less dedicated to being a meeting space. Is there maybe a dance or yoga studio, or art studio, or music or dance or language school or something that's lying fallow occasionally, that would like to make a few extra dollars?
I'd love for it to be in the greater Davis-Porter Co-Prosperity sphere because I live here and it would be very convenient for me, but I'm willing to look further afield, so long as it's on the T.
As I said above, I'm looking for something available Friday afternoons or evenings, or Saturday afternoons or evenings. This is not an every-week thing, maybe more like a once-or-twice a month thing. I have some schedule flexibility, and I'm still figuring out what demand is like -- which may have something to do with how expensive the space is.
Things I've looked into already:
• I understand the Masonic Hall in Porter rents, but it's not wheelchair accessible.
• The office spaces in Porter over the USPS isn't wheelchair accessible.
• There's a therapist who rents out space in Davis Square in the 41 Grove Street building, but it's not wheelchair accessible.
• I've been scouting therapist offices for sublet on Craigslist, and the overwhelming majority are in converted brownstones and victorians, which are not wheelchair accessible; also they tend to require ongoing weekly commitments typically with 6 mo or annual leases. While I'm totally willing to do a lease and have the often required professional liability insurance, I'm not looking for and can't afford a weekly rental.
• This being a commercial project, I'm not eligible for non-profit resources like Eastern Bank's Community Room.
Any ideas? Anybody want to rent me a space?
I'm looking for space to hold some small occasional meetings. I'm a therapist who has started offering, as a commercial service, a kind of training seminar for junior therapists. I'm having trouble finding appropriate space to rent for this.
What I am trying to find is a space with seating for 5 to 11 people. It could be chairs in a ring, living-room style, or seminar-style around a table -- really any configuration that supports having a conversation. I don't drive, so it would need to be T-accessible so I could get there. It would need to have a door that closes so we could discuss confidential things. I'm looking for something I can rent on an hourly basis, on Friday or Saturday afternoons or evenings.
And -- here's what's making this hard -- it needs to be wheelchair accessible and affordable.
I am discovering that while wheelchair accessibility doens't much impact the rental rates of large or even medium-sized function spaces, on the very small end of the market, it's something like a factor of four or more on the price of the space.
For example, I have a space in Porter Square that adequately meets my all my requirements except wheelchair accessibility, for $10/hr. I've found other similar spaces, also for about that rate, with the same limited accessibility. Meanwhile, down the street, Lesley University is willing to rent out classrooms in the Porter Exchange building, which is thoroughly accessible. The rate sheet on their website tells me they rent on the basis of the "half day", four hour blocks, and fees start at $250 per. Which on an hourly basis is more than six times what I'm paying; considered on a per-rental basis, it's more than twelve times what I paid to hold a two hour training.
The absolutely cheapest place I've found so far that also has wheelchair accessibility is $40/hr, and that's way out in the outer burbs (Braintree) with questionable/non-existent T-accessibility. Everything I've found closer is radically more expensive -- and often tricked out in fancy amenities I do not want, and absolutely don't want to pay for.
For instance, there are business rental spaces advertising on Craigslist, that are super-swank and super-spendy all-singing-all-dancing A/V-enabled WiFi-having free-coffee-serving "Class A" office spaces and that are about $60/hr. (Oooh, one in Kendall Square is having a $500/day sale!) Hotel space is, as best I can find out, similarly priced.
At those sorts of prices, I literally can't afford to offer this service. Heck, I suspect that if I were willing to offer the training pro bono and ask the students just to cover the cost of the room rental, it would still price me out of reach!
Thing is, I really don't need spaces that fancy. I need no A/V or internet capability. I don't need free printing or a receptionist. Really, run-down and amenity-free would be fine.
I'm hoping that I could economize by finding a humbler space, or one less dedicated to being a meeting space. Is there maybe a dance or yoga studio, or art studio, or music or dance or language school or something that's lying fallow occasionally, that would like to make a few extra dollars?
I'd love for it to be in the greater Davis-Porter Co-Prosperity sphere because I live here and it would be very convenient for me, but I'm willing to look further afield, so long as it's on the T.
As I said above, I'm looking for something available Friday afternoons or evenings, or Saturday afternoons or evenings. This is not an every-week thing, maybe more like a once-or-twice a month thing. I have some schedule flexibility, and I'm still figuring out what demand is like -- which may have something to do with how expensive the space is.
Things I've looked into already:
• I understand the Masonic Hall in Porter rents, but it's not wheelchair accessible.
• The office spaces in Porter over the USPS isn't wheelchair accessible.
• There's a therapist who rents out space in Davis Square in the 41 Grove Street building, but it's not wheelchair accessible.
• I've been scouting therapist offices for sublet on Craigslist, and the overwhelming majority are in converted brownstones and victorians, which are not wheelchair accessible; also they tend to require ongoing weekly commitments typically with 6 mo or annual leases. While I'm totally willing to do a lease and have the often required professional liability insurance, I'm not looking for and can't afford a weekly rental.
• This being a commercial project, I'm not eligible for non-profit resources like Eastern Bank's Community Room.
Any ideas? Anybody want to rent me a space?
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Date: 2015-01-18 01:55 pm (UTC)(I have no conection to Together In Motion except as a satisfied customer / parent of satisfied kids. :^)
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Date: 2015-01-18 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-01-18 03:23 pm (UTC)http://www.firstchurchsomerville.org/assets/documents/rentalpacket.pdf
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Date: 2015-01-18 08:42 pm (UTC)Thanks for the pointer on FCS! That looks promising, I'll totally check it out.
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Date: 2015-01-26 02:32 pm (UTC)Copley Sq, Boston
Date: 2015-01-18 09:33 pm (UTC)The church closes at 6pm on Fridays (unless there is an evening event) and Saturdays at 4pm.
oldsouth.org
617 536 1970, Mon-Fri, ask for Helen.
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Date: 2015-01-19 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-03 12:24 am (UTC)https://parentingjourney.org/about/facilities-rentals/