The Right Kind of Gentrification

Joseph Gallivan has an excellent feature in today's Portland Tribune about the Falcon Art Community that developer Brian Wannamaker has made out of a 1911 apartment building along North Albina Avenue.

When Wannamaker  bought the building 10 years ago, he had to hire "a live-in security guard to shoo out the hookers and the people who slept in the halls." Today, however, it's a hub of musicians and artists, but also includes many of the low-income residents who were there when Wannamaker originally purchased the building. He's allowed their rents to stay below market value.

Meanwhile, the developer has created a strong sense of community. One artist was hired to paint portraits of longtime residents, which hang in the hallway. Wannamaker also built 24 work-only studios in the basement for artists, musicians and writers. He's also in the process of putting in an in-house bar. Naturally, the residents seem to love it -- even guitarist Johnny Marr of legendary 80s Manchester band The Smiths (a personal fave), who stayed here last year while producing an album for local act Modest Mouse. Gavin Shettler, owner of the Portland Art Center, also lived at the Falcon until recently.

If Gallivan's article is accurate, this is a guy who has eschewed the notion of maximizing profits in order to build something more valuable: a place where neighbors old and new, black and white, young artists and elderly retirees, are co-habitating. This is a place people want to be, and in the end I'll bet that will be lucrative for Wannamaker. There aren't hard feelings about longtime residents and members of one Portland's traditionally African American neighborhoods being driven away. Isn't that worth more than a few hundred bucks more collected in rent?

Comments

[val]

Amazing! What a concept - creatively re-using an existing - and older building - rather than tearing it down and replacing it with some contentious bit of modernity. Not only is the building saved (reuse = eco-friendly) but the neighborhood keeps some social/cultural context rather than the cultural whitewashing that occurs all too often in this city. I liked the part of the article where they mention the owner driving around and imagining how other buildings could be reused. I wish more developers had that sort of integrity and imagination. Also, Every landlord in the city should be required to use that soundproofing wallboard when renting to budding rock stars.

[benschon]

Just up the street on North Albina is another unique development:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/realestate/26nati.html

http://www.penparkcommons.org/news.htm