?It?s tangible if you see it happen,? explained potter/developer Michael Connelly while giving a tour of his future studio space. ?Connelly purchased a former glass factory?at 1525 N. Bailey St., between Jefferson and Oxford streets in Brewerytown,?for only $15,000 and is working with a network of other artists and contractors to turn the labyrinth of empty spaces into inspiring yet inexpensive artist studios. The area, now dubbed the Bailey Street Arts Corridor, has been seeing a slow rebirth thanks to local ceramic and pottery artisans.
Fellow developer/artist Rob Sutherland moved to the area in 2004 and began buying up some of the properties around 27th Street.? By 2006, Connelly also moved to the area and followed Sutherland?s plan by purchasing more spaces within the same area, creating a community of artist spaces.? Brewerytown?s own MMPartners has also come on board, helping continue to build upon this new niche of development in the neighborhood.
?I didn?t think I would turn into somebody that was a landlord,? said Connelly. ?It all kind of goes forward and it?s just providing somebody good space. If I don?t have the space I forward it to another friend like Rob and it keeps going around. The more people who get these spaces ready, the more people will come to this area and realize the potential.?
Connelly?s goal is to continue to build the artist community. He feels when one works around creativity it continues to inspire. The more people who come to the area to work on their craft want to live there; the more people who live there will invest in the area and ultimately stimulate the local economy. Connelly and other artists? approach to these rehab projects is not entirely commercial. He feels that by providing artists with good rates and working with good people they can continue to build up the area. He looks to build up a space and take the income from that property to build more affordable artists? spaces?even if it mean giving up his studio for a fellow artist.
The space on North Bailey Street is still in the beginning stages, but it does have great potential. Connelly plans to renovate the second floor to be a live-and-work studio apartment complete with a kitchen and bathroom; he?s looking to fill the space for only $800 a month. Other entire homes that have been converted into artists? spaces are going for $1200 a month.? The remainder of the factory will be divided into about five studios along with a home they hope to develop into an artists? residency.
While the homes and spaces are in need of more than just a little TLC, Connelly has found amazing details like cherry and mahogany woodwork covered by decades of dirt and debris. The apartment in Connelly?s building will feature an ?antique? winch left over from the factory. When Connelly looks at properties, he looks for spaces with great potential and good bones. He also admits the properties do have their challenges. The courtyard between the home and warehouse had a very large tree that had been growing for about 30 years; since it was pressing into the walls and hurting the structure, the tree had to go. There are also other challenges, like connecting water and sewer lines, since most of the warehouses were only used for storage.
?If you make these beautiful spaces you are going to get people who appreciate it. And [we] make these really nice to bring people who are interested in things [fixtures] like a winch.?
The area continues to attract artisan communities due to the availability of affordable properties and location. A fellow artist had recently purchased a home for only $8,000; at that price, it needs a lot of help, but the network of individuals in the area have created a supportive community to make these homes and warehouses vital and usable again.? Connelly also commented on the existing community have extremely supportive of their new neighbors. Collectively, everyone is glad to see life and industry coming back to these old bones of forgotten properties.
-By Brooke Hoffman for PhiladelphiaRealEstate.com
Photos by the author
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