Anyone who needs a little extra room to work or celebrate now has the option to rent a modern and comfortable office and event space, thanks to a new business venture in Port Hardy that offers short and long-term rentals.
Carol Dirom and Kellie Dukes have opened Rendezvous Place, a flexible meeting place offering boardrooms, offices, and event venue rentals at hourly, half day, and full day rates.
The meeting facility is located in the old North Island College location at the North Island Mall on Trustee Road.
“I approached Kellie to help me get this off the ground,” said Dirom, adding, “Just knowing that I had a good person to do this with me was what pushed me forward.”
Rendezvous Place features six comfortable professional offices outfitted with a desk, executive chair, and two guest chairs; A grande boardroom that seats anywhere from 14 -24 people with a custom built-in coffee bar; A smaller boardroom; and a 2000 sqft. banquet room that has a seating capacity of 160 people and includes an overhead projector and a kitchen and bar area.
Dirom, who owns North Island Mall and Hardy Boys Smoked Fish with her husband Bruce, was partly inspired by meetings she attended in similar places in Vancouver and Seattle.
She said they also wanted to fill the 16,656 sq. ft space in a way that addressed specific needs in the community.
“As an observer and owner of the mall I like to fill in gaps and see what is needed,” said Dirom, explaining, “When it’s court week and you have out of town lawyers that are coming up for a day or two days, they are having to meet with their clients in their cars out in the parking lot.”
Rendezvous Place is not only designed to accommodate the need for short-term office spaces for meetings but also offers rooms that are catered to slightly different functions and have the flexibility to meet a variety of needs.
“It’s sad the college left and it’s unfortunate, but they left behind this great facility. It has awesome rooms and all these offices and large classrooms - there is so much to work from, it has a really great foundation,” said Dirom, adding they were able to transform the space with thousands of hours in sweat equity, a fresh coat of paint, and some new furnishings.
The Serene Room is a glassed-in room with skylights that can be rented out as a testing facility or by individuals who want a quiet place to read or might need to study for an upcoming exam.
There is the Conversation Room which is private and quiet and suitable for smaller groups and things like counseling, mediation, and wellness sessions, while The Breakout Room is geared towards groups celebrating events like baby showers birthdays, or any other occasion for 10 to 15 people.
In addition to the meeting facilities, Rendezvous Place includes a coffee bar called “Fresh” which is located just outside the meeting space in the North Island Mall hallway and will offer Paradise Mountain Organic Coffee and assorted daily made soups, sandwiches, and sweets.
Dirom said that Fresh would provide grab-and-go food and coffee for anyone waiting for court proceedings, or other services in the North Island Mall, as well as people who rent the boardrooms or hold conferences in Rendezvous Place.
“I think what we offer here is an experience,” said Dirom, adding ‘We wanted to make it comfortable and we want people to feel like they are coming into our home. We want to look after them and we wanted the little touches like the flower on the desk and infused water in each room.”
