Program allowing artists to use buildings merits consideration

May 11, 2008

Opinion

QUINCY OFFICIALS are considering a program that would offer dilapidated buildings to artists who would rehabilitate the properties for use as galleries or shops.

Members of the Quincy City Council Finance Committee recently directed the staff to explore the concept. The fix-or-flatten list of buildings presumably would serve as a starting place for what is seen as an artists' enclave from 12th Street to the River and Broadway to State Street.

Quincy has a number of deteriorating buildings in the core area, as do many cities. For more than a decade, the city has been giving owners of nuisance sites a chance to fix the properties and seeking to gain ownership if they fail to respond.

In most cases, the city demolishes such properties, incurring thousands of dollars in costs to remove the eyesores.

There has been an effort to turn the newly-cleared lots into something positive. In several residential areas, the sites have been provided to homebuilders who must construct and then sell reasonably priced housing.

These efforts have gotten high marks from neighborhoods that traded dilapidated buildings for attractive new structures.

Chuck Bevelheimer, Quincy's director of Planning and Development, wants to modify the program somewhat to draw artists to Quincy. Rather than demolishing buildings with some potential value as architectural stock, the sites could be offered free of charge to artists willing to relocate to Quincy and set up galleries, shops, exhibits and living quarters.

Bevelheimer has said the city would convey a structurally sound eyesore to an artist or craftsman who contractually agrees to restore the building and use it in a prescribed manner -- perhaps with a gallery/shop on the ground floor and apartments on a second floor.

This concept would generally dovetail with Quincy's status as an arts center. In particular, it could help advance the Arts Corridor concept that has been developing for years in downtown Quincy.

A similar program in Paducah, Ky., a town of 23,000 population, has attracted 70 artists since it was launched seven years ago. That program brings together the city, artists and a local bank that provides financing for the turnaround projects.

Other cities have used similar incentives to attract artists. Missouri's 50 Miles of Art corridor through Hannibal, Louisiana and Clarksville has used free or low-cost buildings to bring artisans into the area, creating a latticework of small art shops and craft dealers.

City officials already have identified a building at Fifth and Maiden Lane, which the city has acquired through the fix-or-flatten process, that could serve as a pilot project for such a program here.

If the city can convert eyesores to attractive buildings and, in the process, attract artist/entrepreneurs, it would be a good trade.

The savings over demolition would be considerable. The chance to improve property values, move the Arts Corridor to a new level, and attract new businesses and arts shops makes a good deal look even better.

Quincy aldermen have not yet seen a detailed plan for the arts enclave. They are right, however, in recognizing that it has sufficient potential to merit further study.