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Nieghborhood report

Struggling to keep art roots alive

A group of officials is working to ensure that the push for condos doesn't price artists out of studio and home.

By JANET ZINK
Published July 1, 2005

When Genie White opened Artists Unlimited in the Channel District in 1989, the area was rundown and industrial.

A few pioneering artists followed, setting up shop in old warehouses.

Now, those creative thinkers are being pushed out to make way for condominiums well out of reach of painters and sculptors.

White and other members of the Channel District Council want to make sure the area's artistic roots remain by exploring ways to provide affordable places for artists to live and work.

"This place is bustin' loose like nobody's business," White said. "We're trying to figure out a way so that we can have a good diversity in the neighborhood. To keep the flavor of the creative people in the district."

Ideas include subsidizing artist housing or creating an arts council funded by the area's special taxing district, which directs property taxes collected in the district back into the neighborhood.

"We want to make the neighborhood special, and arts have always been part of the district," said Ken Stoltenberg, developer of the condo project Grand Central at Kennedy and treasurer of the Channel District Council. "A lot of the artists have been priced out of the market."

He is donating space in Grand Central for an art gallery and to Stageworks, a local theater company.

"But they still need to turn the lights on, they need to build the space out," he said.

The City Council was scheduled Thursday to consider a contract with consultant WilsonMiller Inc. to create a strategic plan for the Channel District. The plan, which will include input from the community and developers, will set priorities for spending tax money raised in the district.

"A huge part of that effort is identifying two things," said Dave Parkinson, the city's deputy director for redevelopment.

"One is what the market wants to do there, and the other is what the community wants to do there."

Parkinson said he expects the artistic roots of the Channel District will play a part in those plans.

Paul Wilborn, the city's creative industries manager, said timing of the discussion is ideal.

"I wish we had talked about this in Ybor City 10 years ago," he said.

Ybor City's renaissance began with artists, who were quickly pushed out by restaurants and bars.

"We're struggling to take the arts back to Ybor," Wilborn said. "We learned a lesson there."

- Janet Zink can be reached at 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 30, 2005, 09:10:08]