Hyde Park area offers artists an affordable space
It might take some artistic imagination, but the industrial neighborhood of Readville in Hyde Park is preparing for a big influx of artists.
With property costs rising in neighborhoods where artists have traditionally congregated -- Fort Point Channel, for example -- developers see Hyde Park as an affordable alternative for those who want to remain in an urban setting. The Boston Redevelopment Authority recently approved what will be the city's largest market-rate, unsubsidized live-work artist development, the 62-unit Lofts at Westinghouse, on the campus of a large industrial site, where Boston mayor and Hyde Park native Thomas M. Menino once punched a clock, as did his father.
"We're excited about it because this is the first time we'll really see what the demand is for market-rate artist space," said Heidi Burbidge , senior project manager of the BRA's Artist Space Initiative.
Developer Harold Brown's Hamilton Co. will convert to artists space more than 80,000 square feet of the two upper stories of Building C, one of the larger buildings in Westinghouse Plaza. The brick structure was the fan shop for the B.F. Sturtevant Co., once the world's largest industrial fan manufacturer. Light industrial tenants operate on the ground floor. The upper floors had been vacant for almost three decades.
After acquiring the property in 2000, the Hamilton Co. learned of the city's Artist Space Initiative. The company saw that artists were being priced out of the South End and Fort Point Channel, said Carl Valeri , Hamilton's president.
Artists have already begun to gather in Hyde Park. Down the street from Westinghouse is the Sprague Street Studios, a work-only rental complex for 30 artists that First Highland Management & Development opened in 2000. The studios are part of a 450,000-square-foot redevelopment that has ground-floor light industrial tenants, including piano makers.
Peter Murphy, First Highland's president, said another 17 or 18 artist studios will be added to the building's remaining vacant 17,000 square feet. Artists are "great customers," he said. "We would like more of them," he added. "They're a stable tenant base."
One of the artists there is Fay Grajower , a painter who was priced out of an Allston studio but ended up with twice as much space in Hyde Park. A co founder of Hyde Park Open Studios, Grajower said the Westinghouse project could help create enough of a "critical mass" to make Hyde Park a cultural destination.
And more artists will help Hyde Park's business districts grow, said John Mahoney , executive director of the Southwest Boston Community Development Corp., a lead partner in the Hyde Park Arts Initiative. The agency hopes to develop artist live-work spaces when it finds the right spot for them, he said.
The Lofts at Westinghouse will be a short walk from the Readville commuter rail station. The 16 live-work flats, with 967 square feet, will be priced at $200,000, while the 24 live-works lofts, with 1,161 square feet, will be $245,000. And 23 live-only units, at 640 square feet for artists who will have access to other working spaces, will cost $165,000. Hamilton plans to break ground by fall.
"There's a lot of demand for this," said Valeri.
Just how much, though, was enough of an unknown factor for Hamilton to ask for a fallback option. It wanted permission to sell to artists only for one year, and then be able to market unsold units to nonartists. The BRA said yes, but the Zoning Board of Appeal declined. So, Valeri said Hamilton will ask the city for a two-year period to sell to artists.
Jessica Shumaker , a BRA spokeswoman, said the agency approved the "unusual" request because Hamilton had taken a big risk with so many market-rate artist lofts.
Launched in 2002, when less than 300 live-work spaces were counted in Boston, the Artist Space Initiative has led to the creation of 170 units, and another 110 are in the works, Shumaker said.
Valentino Alba , the president of the Hyde Park Arts Association, said that while Hyde Park's burgeoning artist community is excited about the project, the one-year time frame for selling to artists was a "big concern." The two-year period is a "better plan," he said.
