Gap Financing Helps Develop Artists’ Lofts

People generally do not associate Washington, D.C., with either artists or gritty industrial space, but both exist there. One project attempting to turn these rare commodities to its advantage is the Brookland Artspace Lofts project, located in an industrial part of Brookland, an established working-class neighborhood in the northeast quadrant of the city. A nearby Metro station is helping transform this part of Brookland from warehouses and auto body shops to a wider mix of uses and higher densities. While larger, mixed-use projects are in the works with the support of the usual cadre of developers and institutional investors, it is artists who have made this particular project possible, and for them the availability of a large, unwanted industrial lot in a transitional area is valuable.

The Brookland Artspace Lofts project is being developed by Artspace of Minneapolis, a nonprofit real estate developer for artist live/work projects. Its mission is to “create, foster, and preserve affordable space for artists and art organizations.” The Brookland Artspace Lofts will provide 41 affordable live/work apartments for working artists who can demonstrate that they earn a portion of their income from their craft. Because Artspace developments typically have a waiting list that numbers in the hundreds, the approval requirements for prospective tenants are extensive.

The project became financially possible when Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) funds—designed to provide gap financing for tax credit-financed deals—became available as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal stimulus program. Brookland Artspace Lofts was one of five projects in D.C. to receive TCAP funds in 2009 through the city’s Department of Housing and Community Development. Permanent financing was provided by Bank of America, and the National Equity Fund syndicated tax credits generated by the project with TD Bank as the equity investor.

Because rezoning of the site from industrial to medium-density residential use was required to allow the project to happen, community support was essential. Much of the support came from Dance Place, a local nonprofit community dance school that offers dance programs to children and adults at an adjacent site and provides a home for traveling dance professionals. Dance Place asked local stakeholders to support the project at zoning hearings. Artspace asked its architectal firm, Hickok Cole Architects, to include a dance studio in the design and reprogrammed two of the residential units for overflow office and classroom space. The D.C. Housing Authority and the Office of Planning also recognized the cultural value of Brookland Artspace Lofts and championed the project through approval.

The unit layout was unusual, requiring about 100 square feet (9.3 sq m) more per unit than typical units in the market to accommodate the artists’ work area. Because it was unknown during the design phases what artistic endeavors the tenants would undertake, the units needed a flexible layout. Living spaces were large and free of walls, and the ceiling heights were tall—nine feet, three inches (2.8 m). Surfaces were simple, durable, and neutral, with white walls and linoleum floors. The ground-level units, which are above one level of below-grade parking, have exposed and sealed concrete slab for artists needing durable floor surfaces.

The lobby is designed to be used as a gallery for residents’ works; like the units, the space is open and neutral. Doors between the lobby and the studio space open to combine the spaces for large gatherings. The common corridors are also neutral to allow residents to use their talents to personalize the surfaces.

At the ground-breaking ceremony in April, Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, spoke of artists as placemakers. Artists will now employ this once-underused industrial place as an instrumental part of their livelihood, and call it home.