The nonprofit Portland Gear Hub secured its building on Washington Avenue for $1.56 million thanks to community donations. Contributed by Portland Gear Hub

As Portland Gear Hub strives to increase the mobility of Portland-area residents through bike accessibility, the nonprofit organization recently completed a different goal: staying in place.

In the face of increased demand for real estate around the building it rented on Washington Avenue, the outdoor gear and bike shop raised $1.56 million in two years to buy the building and secure its prime location. With the white brick walls already painted with its logo and colorful gears patterns, 155 Washington Ave. was sold to Portland Gear Hub on Dec. 1.

“It’s incredible. Folks really came together and supported us,” said Portland Gear Hub Director James O’Donnell.

The organization – operated by Ketcha Outdoors, a nonprofit youth outdoor organization – moved into the building in 2017, its fourth time moving since the organization was founded in the basement of the Portland YMCA 10 years ago. The Washington Avenue location is where Portland Gear Hub “came into its own,” becoming a central part of the cycling and outdoor recreation community in the Greater Portland area. In addition to bicycle and outdoor gear retail, the organization hosts educational programming to increase equity in the outdoors and provides low-cost or free bicycles to those facing economic barriers to mobility, many of whom are new Mainers.

“There are thousands of people who have interacted with our programs, who know that we’re at this location, and they can come here and we can continue to support their mobility and access needs,” said O’Donnell.

“Moving and getting further away from a bunch of the communities who we’d like to serve would just be, to some extent, like starting from square one again,” he said.

The “Here To Stay” campaign thermometer measured the fundraising over two years. Contributed / Portland Gear Hub

In 2022, Portland Gear Hub staff and board members noticed many other businesses moving into the neighborhoods of the East End and East Bayside on either side of the nonprofit. Anticipating an increase in property prices, Portland Gear Hub decided to purchase its rented building before it was forced to move further out of Portland, away from the communities it primarily serves.

“It’s kind of a rapidly gentrifying area. And we started talking to our landlords about buying the building because we didn’t want to get gentrified off the peninsula,” said O’Donnell.

After settling on the purchase price of $1.56 million with the property owner in 2022, the organization and its supporters began the “Here To Stay” capital campaign with the deadline of Dec. 1, 2024.

“The location on Washington Avenue lends to meeting that goal and serving that mission … it’s really very, very accessible,” said Bob Brown, board secretary of the Ketcha Outdoors, who is also a volunteer mechanic and bike instructor for the organization. “It’s on a bus line. It’s within walking distance to so much of our population downtown and to the north. It’s within cycling distance.”

Over two years, Portland Gear Hub secured funds from both major donors and smaller donations, with 450 contributing to the campaign. The largest contribution was a $1 million donation from a foundation that requested to be anonymous. The other most substantial donations of $100,000, $50,000 and $30,000 also came from anonymous donors. Most donations ranged from $10-$1,000, said O’Donnell, and the final checks that brought them to $1.56 million arrived in the mail just after Dec. 1.

Local bicycle groups also made donations, including the Portland Velo Club, the Forest City Cycling Club, the Casco Bay Cycling Club in Falmouth, Maine Cycling Club in Lewiston and the Merrymeeting Wheelers Bike Club in Brunswick.

The Friday Morning Coffee Ride cycling group consists of about 30 riders, most of whom are retired, who bike from Gorham Bike and Ski on Congress Street to Clayson’s Cafe in Yarmouth every Friday morning. Together the informal group donated $60,000 in support of the Portland Gear Hub purchasing its building.

“I knew when I heard about the Gear Hub’s effort to purchase the property … it really made sense, in my heart, to put a big shoulder to the wheel,” said Fred Robie, a leader of the Friday Morning Coffee Ride group and emeritus board member of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine.

“Over the course of time, everybody got in on it, and they’ve all participated, and it was more than my heart’s delight when people not only put in a big chunk, but they put in a bigger chunk, and we were pleased and delighted to support this effort,” said Robie.

Retail operations inside the building support Portland Gear Hub’s programs. Contributed by Portland Gear Hub

In addition to staying in place indefinitely, the purchase of the building will also allow Portland Gear Hub to invest more monetarily in its programming going forward, as rent will no longer be a cost. The organization also hopes to increase the number of bikes donated to individuals facing limited mobility from 400 bikes per year to 1,000, said O’Donnell. Additionally, ownership of the building will allow for increased retail operations, which support the Portland Gear Hub’s programs, as well as building renovations and modifications.

“For us, buying the building, it’s not the end goal. The end goal is serving the community and providing low- and no-cost bicycles and outdoor gear to folks so that their lives are enriched,” said Brown.

“So, it’s these programming efforts that we do, the Bikes for All Mainers classes, the new Mainers who can get to school and appointments and work and to the grocery store because they have transportation now – for us, that’s the story. So being there and buying a building enables us to continue to reach that community and do the good work,” he said.

This story was updated at 12:02 on 12/12/2024 to correct Bob Brown’s title.