Berkshire Eagle

Lofty vision in North Adams

article date: 04/21/2005

By Christopher Marcisz
Berkshire Eagle Staff

NORTH ADAMS -- City artist and developer Eric Rudd says that too often artists are used and pushed aside to gentrify urban neighborhoods.

They take the risk on old loft spaces, only to get priced out as rents rise and owners try to squeeze more money from their properties.

"I think it is important for artists to own spaces," he declared yesterday, while standing in one of his major projects, the Eclipse Mill on Union Street.

Two and a half years ago, he began to convert the mill from abandoned hulk to vibrant artist living and studio space, and he said he intends to do it again.

Rudd ended several days of speculation yesterday by announcing that his next major project will be to develop condominiums with mixed living and studio spaces for artists at the Blackinton Mill on Massachusetts and Ashton avenues.

The project is being planned with the building's current owner, Michael Meehan.

The 70,000-square-foot facility is smaller than the Eclipse Mill, and will include 25 lofts with sizes varying from 2,500 square feet to 5,000 square feet.

Because of the building's design -- an L-shaped structure with another building nearby -- the lofts will be larger and have differing floor plans. A few will have two floors.

Promotional materials warn that construction costs have not yet been concluded, but the price range is likely to be in the ballpark of $75 per square foot.

Rudd outlined an ambitious schedule for the plan, with construction to begin in June and the first occupants ready to move in by this fall.

Rudd said he hopes current residents of the Blackinton neighborhood find the development an improvement.

"Artists are a lot fussier about how their buildings look," he said.

 

The exterior of the Blackinton Mill, top, seen from Massachusetts Ave. in North Adams. Above, floor plans for the renovations were looked over during a tour for prospective buyers given by Eric Rudd on Wednesday afternoon.

Ruppert Bohle walks with his wife Anne O'Conner, holding their daughter Lola Bohle, 15 months, through the third floor of the Blackinton Mill. The couple was planning to make a deposit to reserve a space in the soon-to-be-renovated mill.

 

Rudd praised North Adams officials for instituting the live-work zoning ordinances that make projects like his possible. He said that he believes North Adams is the smallest community in the country to allow such spaces, and that they are usually seen in big cities with mixed results.

The arrangement not only brings new residents to the area, but it enables the hulking spaces of the industrial age to stay on the tax rolls as commercial properties as well.

"It's just adding on something, without taking away anything," he said.

The first step in zoning approvals began earlier this month when Mayor John Barrett III asked the City Council to lower the minimum required space for a combined living and work space specifically for artists from 100,000 square feet to 50,000.

Barrett told the council that developments like the Eclipse Mill are good for raising property tax revenue, reusing abandoned mills and factories, and supporting other small businesses around the region.

"What we're seeing here is what is called the creative economy," he said. "It's what basically is happening in North Adams, and it's fair to assume that there are other projects like Eric Rudd's in the works."

The council is scheduled to meet with the Planning Board on April 26 to discuss amending the zoning rules.

Project architect David Westall of Westall Architects in Williamstown said the project would likely face a Planning Board hearing next month.

He said the building itself is in "excellent" shape, and the work would not alter the footprint of the current buildings. The biggest change will be the installation of new windows.

The announcement comes as the finishing touches are put on the 40-unit, 125,000-square-foot Eclipse Mill on Union Street in the center of North Adams.

Ed Carson, whose fourth-floor loft was the site of yesterday's announcement, said he and his wife, Sharon, have been in their unit since October.

The couple, who moved to the area from the eastern part of the state after seeing an ad in a trade magazine, said the tenants are beginning to organize and plan cultural events at the site.

That process has already begun in part. In December, several residents held an open studio event to show the building to the public.

Built in 1917, the Blackinton Mill was used as a warehouse by GK Technologies Inc., owner of Sprague Electric and General Cable. For a period in the 1980s, it was home to Berkshire Tanning Corp. before Meehan purchased it and began using it as warehouse space.

But as early as 1988, Meehan suggested he would like to see some form of artistic use for the building. In particular, he suggested at the time using some of the upper floors for art studio space, and leaving the lower ones for warehousing or light manufacturing.

The Blackinton Mill has frequently been the subject of speculation for development, ever since the concept of mixed living and work spaces for artists was first suggested by city officials in June 2002.

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