Port Workspaces
A dude in his 20s pulls up a seat next to me at the bar and asks, “Are you new here?” This could be a pick-up scene on a Friday night, but it’s actually a Thursday afternoon, and the dude, Chiel Borenstein, is technically at work. His employer, the energy consulting nonprofit WattTime, is one of 200 companies that have taken up residence at the third and newest location of the Port Workspaces, a sprawling, 60,000-squarefoot, three-story co-working space in the former Kaiser Mall in Oakland that includes, among many other things, a bar.
When you work at such a place, striking up a conversation with a stranger is not unusual. When Borenstein finds out I’m a reporter, he begins to gush about working at the Port. “The staff ’s friendly. Everyone is so helpful,” he says. “It’s such a fun space to foster creativity.”
He is not exaggerating. To transform a former 1960s-era shopping mall into a dynamic and imaginative community-oriented work environment, the Port spent 15 months planning, designing and remodeling the space. On the ground floor, the vanilla terrazzo floor was dyed a warm ochre. Futuristic-looking furniture called “icebergs,” created by West Oaklands design-build studio Because We Can, are artfully arranged in front of a large colorful mural by Griffin One. Shipping containers double as meeting spaces and conference rooms. You can even work inside a converted walk-in refrigerator, if that sort of thing appeals to you. On the third floor, members can stroll among the ducks on the Kaiser Center Roof Garden or lounge on the spacious outdoor terrace, complete with squishy fake turf, (mini) rolling hills and a thatched-roof tiki bar overlooking Lake Merritt, which is just a block and a half away.
Perks: The Port has some get you in the door. Sure, y tune pinball and drink as m also just hole up in a cubic and work. This fluidity of w results in a fairly diverse m actually look not unlike th here for the same reason,” and be successful.”
very enticing amenities, to be sure, but they don’t feel like a cheap way to you can hopscotch down the hallway, partake in a game of Wheel of Formuch (free!) cold-brew coffee as your stomach can handle. But you can cle or take a seat at a desk or find a quiet spot somewhere to hunker down workspaces — the Port also has a huge co-working commercial kitchen — membership base, so that the people inside the keycard-protected doors he people outside. But they all have something in common: “Everyone is ” Borenstein told me. “Be as productive as you can, have fun while doing it,
Details: 317 Washington St.; 101 Broadway; 344 20th St., Oakland. (510) 4440770; http://portworkspaces.com. Membership: $225 per month includes access to all three of Port’s Oakland locations, five free hours of reserved meeting space per month, and keycard access 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Port Workspaces in Oakland isa sprawling three-story co-working space in the former Kaiser Mall that’s not afraid to bring a little fun to the office, as this 30-foot tube slide shows. There’s also a roof garden complete with a tiki bar overlooking nearby Lake Merritt for when the workday ends.