Project Update
Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to our two initial visioning sessions in November and December 2025!
Your interest in the project, and eagerness to participate has been a warm reassurance of how much this is needed in our community. Our team has been diligently working behind the scenes to build out the project plan based on your expressed interests and feedback. It is clear that the vision and opportunity is much larger than what can be held in one residence-turned-commercial space, but we are excited to proceed building an organizational foundation that will allow us to fundraise and grow beyond the current space.
The project plan is broken into two phases:
Phase 1 (2025-2026) is focused on launching the cooperatively-operated retail store and classroom/workshop space on the ground floor of the building. We expect to open these in summer 2026.
Phase 2 (2027) will focus on building out the community studio and low-tech makerspace.
Launching the cooperative store and workshop room first will allow us to build the operational systems necessary to manage shared equipment and tools necessary for a makerspace/community studio, as well as create a revenue stream to help cover operating costs. The timelines on these two portions of the project may change if we are able to secure funding and accelerate project capacity.
This winter, the project team has focused on the nuts and bolts of our operational; building the financial and governing structure to support our partnership with Resilient Point Roberts, applying for grants to fund our work, and other behind-the-scenes work necessary for community-led initiatives to succeed. We expect to put out a call to artists and makers interested in participating in the retail store in late spring once we have polished our initial business plan for success.
We are now ready to expand the community of people working to make this possible! We have a variety of opportunities to get involved- everything from one-time volunteering to ongoing project team participation. If you are potentially interested, please fill out the volunteer form. Filling out this form does not obligate you to volunteering, but helps us keep track of who might be interested, and where their skills and interests lie. We will get in touch with specific opportunities as they arise.