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July 28, 2015

Portland nonprofit buys downtown building for $1.4M to protect artist spaces

Photo / Courtesy of SPACE Gallery SPACE Gallery purchased 534-538 Congress St. for $1.4 million on June 30.

Portland arts nonprofit SPACE Gallery has purchased the downtown building where it has been a tenant for 13 years — a move that secures a permanent home for the nonprofit and the dozens of artists who rely on studio space in the building’s upper floors.

And now the nonprofit is turning to its supporters to fund part of its next chapter.

Nat May, SPACE Gallery’s executive director, confirmed to Mainebiz that the nonprofit purchased the four-story building at 534-538 Congress St., between Renys’ Portland store and the Maine College of Art, for $1.45 million on June 30. The building was sold by Christopher Campbell, an architect and designer living in Portland.

A major fixture of Portland’s art and music scene, SPACE Gallery has been hosting concerts, film screenings, art exhibitions and other events on the building’s first floor since it was founded in 2002. It has expanded over the years while the building’s previous owner, Campbell, had been leasing upper-floor studios to professional artists. Pickwick Independent Press, a separate print studio that provides space for 20 artists, has been operating on the second floor.

May said securing a space for the nonprofit’s future is one of the reasons for purchasing the building. Another reason, he said, is to preserve affordable studio space for artists. Between Pickwick Independent Press and the individual studios, which are now collectively known as SPACE Studios, May said there are about 48 artists.

He said it’s important to support them because it not only gives artists a proper place to work, but also because they form an important part of Portland’s cultural and economic fabric.

“When you read about small manufacturers in a mill space closing down, that’s headline news,” May said. “Our building is a community of micro industries, working artists. They aren’t working together on the same product, but they do represent an industry that’s part of the Maine economy. That’s why it’s so important to save this space.”

Affordable artist space in demand

SPACE Gallery’s effort to preserve space for artists comes at a time when affordable space is thought to be high in demand and low in supply. SPACE’s studios, even before it took ownership of them, have been full or nearly full for a long time, May said, and there’s a waiting list for people who want to get into a specific kind of space, depending on their needs.

Jennifer Hutchins, executive director of Creative Portland, said when her organization did an inventory of creative spaces about 18 months ago, the occupancy rate was right around 85%.

“With rental rates going up I'm certain it’s not easy for anyone to find a studio space that would generally be affordable,” she said.

Kate Anker, who runs the Running With Scissors artist studios in East Bayside, said when she moved and quadrupled her affordable studio facility to 16,000 square feet, it went from having 15 artists to 59, with the occupancy rate now around 80%. She said that, like May, there is a waiting list for specialized spaces, such as those with ventilation or other features.

“We have expanded. That being said, it’s a pretty rampant issue that artists are losing their ability to find affordable space [on Portland’s peninsula],” Anker said, which is now causing a ripple effect on other areas in the city. However, she added, “there are people keenly aware of that shift and they are trying to do something about that shift.”

Fundraising campaign seeks to reduce costs

It’s not an easy task for an organization like SPACE Gallery to take over a building and promise a sustainable future. To pay for the building, the nonprofit had to take out a $1.04 million mortgage from Bangor Savings Bank and a second mortgage from the White Pine Foundation. The second mortgage and some fundraising helped cover the first mortgage's $410,000 down payment.

That’s part of the reason why SPACE Gallery is now holding a public fundraising campaign. The goal, May said, is to raise money to cover not just the down payment and closing costs, but also to support building improvements and a new artist-in-residence program.

All together, the nonprofit is hoping to raise $538,000 (a figure modeled after its original address), which will be done through a major gift solicitation, May said.

“If we do very well with the campaign, we could reduce the costs [of rent for artists and SPACE Gallery] and invest more money into artists,” May said.

SPACE Gallery is technically still paying rent along with the artists to SPACE Studios, a separate but connected entity that handles the mortgage and the building’s other operational costs, May said. It’s being done that way, he said, so that SPACE Gallery’s programming arm doesn’t raise the costs of the artist studios if it’s not doing well with its own, separate fundraising efforts.

“The studio building is one of the few places where artists have affordable spaces on the peninsula and we want to make sure that’s something available to artists in Portland,” May said. “That’s the cornerstone for this campaign and something we all really value here.”

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated how long Pickwick Independent Press has been a tenant and that SPACE Gallery is planning a Kickstarter campaign.

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