The Building Project

In 2018, PIMC embarked on a successful fundraising campaign to add a ramp and wheelchair-accessible entrance to the community’s building in Southeast Portland. The goal was to make the facility ADA compliant, helping PIMC continue to move toward its core value of inclusiveness.

 

In progressing with the project, however, it was discovered that the offices located on the lower level of the center needed improvements to meet Portland building code. Subsequent analysis showed the building as a whole required costly seismic upgrades for full compliance as well as maximized safety and longevity.

 

PIMC’s Board of Directors authorized the development of an Improvement Plan and fundraising revisions to address these wider facility upgrades. The ongoing project is the most significant

facility-oriented initiative PIMC has undertaken since the purchase of the building itself in 2004.

 

In late 2021 and early 2022, the project team successfully managed construction of the long-envisioned wheelchair ramp, as well as ADA-complaint bathrooms, a new entryway, renovations to the offices to bring them up to code, and the first steps in a wider seismic upgrade (the full scope of the seismic work will be completed in the coming years).

 

PIMC was also able to renovate the gathering room off the back of the main Dharma Hall where smaller sits take place and community members meet for tea and conversation. It’s now called the Naito Living Room, in honor of Ron Naito and Anne Naito-Campbell, whose generosity helped make these initial stages of the construction project come to fruition.

 

In the coming years, the community will be embarking on additional construction efforts to bring the entire building up to seismic code, with a particular emphasis being placed on the Dharma Hall itself.

 

Look for more details on this important work that will continue to help PIMC exist as a safe and inclusive gathering point for all those in the Portland area drawn to insight meditation practice.