the Pajama Factory

Dream it. See it. Do it.

Meet our new building manager

We are thrilled to have Marshall Harris joining our management team. He will be moving to Williamsport from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and setting up a live/work space in the building. Marshall is currently pursuing his Masters degree in sculpture from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia PA.

Find out more about Marshall

 

Friends,

It has been a cold winter everywhere and Williamsport is no exception! But that hasn't stopped us from moving forward on a lot of fronts at the Pajama Factory. We've added new studio spaces, new tenants, new management and new pages to our website (plus a new group page on Facebook).

There's a lot of energy around all that is going on at the building so we hope you will continue to spread the word to anyone you know who might be interested in joining this community (just send them to pajamafactory.net).

– Mark and Susie Winkelman

New Studios Completed and Rented

We are finishing up the final touches on 14 new work studios just constructed on the second floor of the main building. The studio spaces range in size from 200 to 3000 square feet to accommodate the range of needs of the new tenants moving in this month. Among them, we have a wood turner who is taking over one of the bigger studios to accommodate his equipment and a writer who doesn't need much space at all – just enough to collect her thoughts.

Photo compliments of Ralph Wilson

Tenant Activities

Early last December more than 50 tenants, employees, and their families and friends joined us at our potluck holiday gathering in the Uptown Music Collective. Special thanks to the owner, Dave Brumbaugh, who generously donated his space. Lots of great, homemade food was donated to the community table – including fried chicken, stews, desserts and much more.

In addition to many new folks filling up our 14 new studio spaces, the CAPPA Organization, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing academic achievement among youths, is also moving into the building this month with a computer center they will be setting up for local kids. With this move, the building management offices will be headed upstairs to a temporary space on the 2nd floor.

New Building Manager

A HUGE welcome to Marshall Harris and his wife, who will be moving to Williamsport and setting up a live/work space in the building some time in April. Marshall is a sculptor who works on a large scale with found materials. Some of his recent work was on display this past November during the Williamsport Arts Festival in an exhibit with the Public Art Academy at the Pajama Factory.

Marshall's eclectic experience includes an NFL career with the Cleveland Browns, New England Patriots and New Jersey Generals (USFL). He has worked as a marketing specialist, museum curator, and founded his own graphics design and exhibit building company. Most recently Marshall was the owner of a construction company specializing in custom interiors. His varied background makes for a somewhat unlikely but wonderful resume for this important management position at the Pajama Factory. It is definitely worth stopping by to see his work once he gets settled!

Planning For The Building Vision

We feel incredibly lucky to be working with Gary Rohrbacher, an experienced architect/planner from Seattle, Washington. We have known Gary since the 1980's when he worked with Mark's architecture firm. Since then, he has gone on to get a few more degrees (Columbia and MIT) followed by a few teaching stints (Harvard and University of Texas) and has worked at a number of pretty well known architectural firms.

Gary has been mapping out plans for spaces at the building. For example, where should the pub go? What about the coffee shop? What ‘green’ efforts can we integrate into our planning? In fact, he was just out at the Pajama Factory last week to meet people and absorb the wonderful ambience of our building.

Building Our Online Community

We are continuing to build our online community with our website (pajamafactory.net) and our new Facebook group page (join us if you haven't already). On the website you can check out the latest news about the Pajama Factory and see a directory of our tenants, along with a brief description of what they do. There is more to come in the future including a new logo design and a calendar of events on the website.

Have you noticed that the days are getting longer? Spring is just around the corner – that's when the building's courtyard starts humming with activity again. In the meantime, stay on top of all our upcoming events by visiting our website and please keep spreading the word about the Pajama Factory.

– Mark and Susie Winkelman