Scathing Article on 3rd Ward Makes Everyone Involved Sound Like a Schmuck

Image of Philadelphia 3rd Ward location via philly.3rdward.com

A recent article on Hyperallergic gets into some serious nitty-gritty about 3rd Ward, the creative co-working space that started in Brooklyn then opened in Philly and recently and abruptly went out of business. Reading this piece, it becomes easy to see how the whole thing imploded. Some of the less savory revelations:

– Founders Jason Goodman and Jeremy Lovitt’s early business ventures were characterized by New York magazine as “the slow, random, party-fueled growth of an East Williamsburg empire.”
– Another Goodman/Lovitt venture was called Dubai:Brooklyn, which hosted “lavish, Burning Man–style raves with bands, fire eaters, and paint-can-wielding street artists.”
– Goodman and Lovitt “used illegal parties and cheap Brooklyn leases” to start 3rd Ward proper.
– When the initial 3rd Ward space — which was partly residential — was raided and “allegedly shut down for code violations,” existing tenants were evicted. But Goodman and Lovitt were out well before the shut down, having “moved out of their massive lofts … under mysterious circumstances.”

– Goodman and Lovitt opened a pop-up restaurant and “paid” some employees with IOUs.
– In 2012, the company had $3 million in equity, a $1.5 million grant, a $1 million loan, and a free building in Philadelphia, but somehow they were in financial crisis.
– Goodman told Smart Planet that “3rd Ward [had] been profitable every year since it opened.” He also boasted that 2012 was going to bring in $4 million, embodying what Hyperallergic characterizes as Goodman and Lovitt’s “hubris of frontier gentrifiers.”
– Speaking of hubris, Hyperallergic is highly skeptical (rightly so) of that $4 million figure. “But Goodman’s bravado, as ever, was unambiguous: ‘I am very confident. We know our business. The user economics are simple.'”

Blessed Are the Makers: The Rise and Fall of 3rd Ward [Hyperallergic]