3rd Ward, Brooklyn Art and Design Space, to Close

Piotr Redlinski for The New York Times Becky Carter, left, a woodworking teacher at the collective 3rd Ward, and Sara Feinberg, a member, in 2010.

3rd Ward, the Brooklyn art, design and educational work space, where for seven years students and artisans have built wood furniture, learned about photography and pursued other creative endeavors, in Bushwick and at an outpost in Philadelphia, is closing, an owner, Jason Goodman, announced on Thursday.

“I can confirm that we are closing right now, both locations, effective as of today,” Mr. Goodman, a founder and chief executive of 3rd Ward, said in a phone call. Rapid expansion, including opening the space in Philadelphia, contributed to the financial troubles of the business, which tried to save itself with a last-ditch round of fund-raising, he said.

“We realized that we needed to get ahead of this early in the summer, and we initiated an equity raise at the very beginning of the summer,” Mr. Goodman said, adding that the Brooklyn location alone could not support the company's growth, including a planned kitchen incubator and other projects. The company's management and board were negotiating with investors to raise the $1.5 million in operating costs needed for both spaces until Tuesday, Mr. Goodman said. But a crowd-sourced investment campaign on the site Fundrise raised only $375,000 before being disabled this week.

“We were unable to bring in fresh capital,” he said. “It was a roller coaster.”

He added: “We really fought down to the wire to preserve everything that we built, everything that we stand for, over the years. It was a really tough judgment call. Some of us wanted to continue fighting. But at the end of the day, I think this was the right thing to do.”

Instructors were notified of the closure via e-mail on Wednesday evening, hours after news of it broke online.

“When we opened in 2006, our vision was to create a shared space for our community of artists and entrepreneurs to have a place to work, teach, learn, network and thrive,” the letter reads. “We're proud to have been able to do that for as long as we did.”

Members also received a letter that informed them they could not get refunds on their membership. 3rd Warders and teachers grumbled about the late notice - which Mr. Goodman said was due to having to file necessary paperwork. Some also started a Web site, Save3rdWard.com. A new restaurant, Fitzcarraldo, which opened recently in the building, was to stay open, said its owners, who were not part of 3rd Ward.

A broker who represents the building told Gothamist that studio spaces were still available, and deals might be had for 3rd Ward members. Mr. Goodman said the landlord had indicated to him that co-working spaces and others might be able to stay, but nothing was yet confirmed, and everyone was given a few days to get their belongings out of the space.

“We're just trying to do this with the most amount of dignity and respect for everybody that we can,” Mr. Goodman said. “It's a good company and the fundamentals are good and our customer bases are strong,” he added. “It's a short-term liquidity issue, and we unfortunately ran out of time.”