Tilsner Artists’ Cooperative image from Artspace
I just discovered a gem of the Twin Cities real estate community. Artspace is the only non-profit real estate developer in the world that works to create affordable living and working spaces for artists and arts organizations. Artspace was created back in 1979 in response to artists being forced out of Minneapolis’ Warehouse District due to rising property costs. I had the chance to talk to Beth Bowman, the Commercial Leasing Portfolio Manager for Artspace, about how the organization helps to solve the artist housing crisis. Learn more about Artspace after the jump.
Finding affordable housing has been a long problem for artists and arts organizations. Artists need spaces with lots of window and natural light. Old warehouses are a perfect space for artists to reside because they have so much room to work. Once artists move into the warehouses, often they spur a gentrification of the neighborhoods driving property costs so high that the artists can no longer live in the area.
This is where Artspace steps in. Bowman explains that Artspace residential live/work projects qualify as affordable housing for low to moderate income households. The organization owns and operates about 24 projects in 17 cities across the nation. Some of the locally owned buildings include the Grain Belt Studios, Hennepin Center for the Arts and the Northern Warehouse Artists’ Cooperative.
Due to the necessity to get funding for the projects from at least 20 sources, including the Ford Foundation & Kresge Foundation, the projects usually take about 3-5 years to complete. When they are completed, however, they are popular spaces. The live/work spaces usually are about 95% occupied and the commercial buildings have around a 3% vacancy rate.
According to Bowman, when looking to acquire a property, Artspace looks for a space that is designed to already work as an artist space. This usually means that the building has an industrial look ,with concrete floors, and exposed ceilings with wood beams.
Artspace USA has now been around for 30 years and continues to give artists the opportunity to focus on their profession and helps foster and grow local & national communities. Visit Artspace’s page to see a full list of properties.