Less than two weeks after what appeared to be a promising buyout for Affinity Lab, the oldest coworking space in D.C. and possibly in the country, the lead investor and CEO-to-be Mike LaRosa had very bad news.
“In spite of all our best efforts to turn the lab around and three months of meetings and conversations, Ms. Suman Sorg, our upstairs neighbor and landlord unexpectedly terminated all negotiations for a lease renewal,” he said in an email.
LaRosa had told Technical.ly DC he planned to revive the floundering coworking space by developing a new pricing model, upgrading the facilities and even perhaps eventually expanding. The acquisition was announced Dec. 17.
Former Affinity Lab CEO Philippe Chetrit, who now works at SocialRadar, commented on a post in the DC Tech Facebook page, “[W]e are PSYCHED! DC’s oldest coworking space is onto its next chapter.”
Instead, LaRosa explained in his email, he and co-owner Edward Herold spent “Christmas Eve on non-stop calls with advisers, brokers, lawyers, and shareholders.”
That wasn’t enough to rescue the sinking ship, he wrote. “[W]e have been unable to come up with a viable solution and have made the difficult decision to withdraw the offer we made to acquire Affinity Lab.”
He concluded plaintively, “While the physical Lab as we know it might be going away, I’m beyond confident that each and everyone of you will continue its mission no matter where you work.”
There’s surely more to come on this.
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