Friday, April 30, 2010

ArtSpace: Lofty Ambitions in Brookland


Today, Dance Place and Artspace will break ground at noon on a new $13 million, government-sponsored arts campus, Brookland Artspace Lofts, at 3225 8th Street, NE. The site, three blocks from the Brookland Metro, is currently occupied by the Brookland Studios and existing Dance Place. The project will bring new affordable artist housing and performance space to the northeast community and mark the "beginning of a new era in urban development," according to a press release. Lofty ambitions.

Artspace's affordable live/work units will house struggling artists and their families, providing them with gallery and studio space. Thirty-nine of the units will be available to households earning less than 60 percent of the area median income; two units are set aside for Dance Place.

The four-story building will top out at 48 feet so as not to stand out in the low-density neighborhood. Artspace is adding a green roof as part of a community service project and will partner with DC Greenworks for installation. According to Jim Bognet, president and co-founder of general contractor Bognet Construction Associates, “the building will also feature a mosaic tile installation that will be provided by community volunteers." DC-based Hickok Cole Architects designed the building.

Though an initial plan called for an additional building for Dance Place to create a "campus," the team has scaled back their ambitions to an overhaul of the existing dance studio. “Artspace will support Dance Place in its effort to renovate its existing theater space" said Heidi Kurtze, Director of Property Development for Artspace Projects, Inc. in a press release. The two projects will potentially be linked by an outdoor plaza and performance space between them.

The District Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will provide $10.4 million in stimulus funding and $1 million in low-income housing tax credits in recognition of the role of the arts in revitalizing neighborhood.

Washington, DC real estate development news

1 comments:

LifeOnTheEdgewood on May 3, 2010, 1:31:00 PM said...

This project is actually in Edgewood not Brookland.

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