HEART: Portland Office news…the driving rain and cold weather have been particularly hard on the Rose City’s homeless population this year. The Menashe family made local and national headlines last week by donating vacant space in a downtown office building as a temporary shelter for the homeless. Barry Menashe and his son Jordan announced that they were going to offer the second floor of the Washington Center Building on SW 4th Avenue for use as a shelter for 6 months.
“We’re all human beings and everyone has certain rights. One of those rights is to be treated like a human being”-Barry Menashe
Barry Menashe was quoted as saying: “It’s a short-term fix to a long term issue.” Personally, I think its much more than that. With room for to keep 150 souls out of Portland’s Winter Storms…it may just be the difference between life and death for someone. And the beneficiaries are the kind of folks that don’t always get treated with dignity and respect…or even acknowledgment.
CLASS: I met Barry Menashe for the first time about 8 month’s ago while representing a tenant in procuring a lease. My client wanted a very specific layout that required a great deal of Tenant Improvements to fulfill. Barry showed one of his Beaverton buildings to us and brainstormed how we might have him alter the space to meet their needs to a “tee”. He was energetic, warm, personable, and made it clear that he took care of his tenants. He called me later to tell me he appreciated my bringing my client by…and said that because my proposed tenant was an established company, that once they paid the first month’s rent and security deposit he would write a check for my commission that day. That just doesn’t happen. The more standard situation is to wait for months to get paid…but he is not an average guy. Ultimately my client was not a match–they had a high concentration of smokers that wouldn’t have meshed well with the rest of the tenants.
GOALS: I have a number of career goals I continue to pursue…and one of them is to complete a deal with the Menashe Group. If I get the chance to help my clients while working with folks with class + heart…I have to take it!