Rudd unveils $5M project
article date: 04/21/2005
By Glenn Drohan
NORTH
ADAMS - Artist Eric Rudd has a partner for his latest artist-loft venture,
25 "seriously large" condominiums/ artist studios in the Blackinton Mill
complex on Massachusetts Avenue. And, due to the popularity of Rudd's
Eclipse Mill lofts, the price is going up.
He and Blackinton Mill owner Michael Meehan, who also owns the former Wavery Mill in Adams and the former Strong-Hewatt mill in Clarksburg, among other holdings, plan to sell the new lofts, ranging from 2,500 to 4,500 square feet, for $160,000 to $260,000, depending on construction costs and how the market shakes out.
That's still inexpensive, Rudd maintains, for metropolitan-area artists who hanker for a taste of the Berkshires and can combine their living and working quarters at a far cheaper price than they could find in the big cities.
"Many developers in cities use artists to gentrify an area and then push them out," Rudd said at a news conference at the Eclipse Mill and in later conversations yesterday. "What artists discover here is not only the space they need but also a sense of community."
He added that by buying the artists lofts, artists also secure a long-term commitment to their creative space. His conviction is that artists should own their own spaces and benefit from property appreciation.
At the Eclipse Mill Lofts, launched two years ago, Rudd has sold all 40 of the artists' lofts - most sold in the $100,000 range or less - and has completed about 30 of them. Artists have come here, as he did, with his wife, Barbara, more than 20 years ago, from Washington, D.C., as well as from the Boston area, New York City and even Indiana.
Rudd acknowledged he "didn't make any money" on the Eclipse enterprise but said he learned from the enormous undertaking of renovating a huge, somewhat dilapidated mill into spacious, modern studios and apartments. If all goes well, the Blackinton Mill Lofts will break ground this summer and be completed within a year, he said.
Rudd, who said he saw each of his loft projects as "one helluva big sculpture," said he plans to use any profit from the Blackinton Mill Lofts to create a large sculpture for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.
"It's all in the name of art," he said, while stressing that both projects will create jobs and expand the tax base. He estimated the Eclipse Mill alone has an impact of about $1 million on the local economy.
That's talking Mayor John Barrett III's language. Barrett, who applauded the Eclipse project, recently acted with the City Council to change the city's zoning to allow the smaller combination lofts and living spaces. The previous "experimental zoning" had allowed such combinations for buildings of 100,000 square feet or larger. The new zoning allows them in buildings 50,000 square feet or larger.
"I didn't have to be a brain surgeon to figure out that Eric Rudd took a building that had basically been vacant for 15 years and wasn't producing any taxes to create 40 lofts, put it back on the tax rolls and generate wonders for the economy," Barrett said yesterday. "This is all part of the arts-based piece of the diverse, solid economy we want to create here."
He added, "That's why we changed the zoning the first time around. It was experimental, but now we see there's a demand for it. The experiment is working."
Rudd is already marketing the new lofts (check out www.cirecorp.com or www.artstudioloft.com) and said he expects a good response almost immediately.
"Unlike last time, I can show them a project [the Eclipse lofts]," he said. "Before, the building looked like hell. The contractors, everybody, thought we were crazy."
Rudd also likes the location of the Blackinton Mill, close to the Williamstown line, where artists will be central not only to Mass MoCA but also to the Clark Art Institute and the Williamstown Museum of Art.
While Meehan, who specializes locally in warehousing, will remain somewhat of a silent partner, Rudd said, the arrangement should work out well for both of them.
"Blackinton Mill has a lot of odd spaces. The odd nooks make it difficult for Mike in his business but work perfectly for me. Artists like odd spaces."
Both Rudd and Barrett said the loft/condominium model is something Pittsfield and other communities should seriously consider for their vacant or underutilized buildings
"I think any community that has old mills and large spaces has to think outside the box," Barrett said. "That's what Eric Rudd did with the Eclipse Mill. Everyone was saying, "Let's bring in the incubators, let's bring in the incubators," but there were no incubators to be had. You just cannot continue to do business as usual and succeed these days."