Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/60293
ne Art Collective Soul F and the Western Avenue Lofts are offering artists an entirely new type of place in which to live and work. By Andrea Fox Lowell is swiftly rising as the North Shore's epicenter of art, loor after floor, Western Avenue Studios (WAS) in Low- ell is a labyrinth of wonder. With a roster of mostly artist tenants, it's also a solid real estate investment. 110 nshoremag.com May/June 2012 According to Rebecca Mattson of Sagebrook Development, LLC, investor TD Bank is funding the latest project at the five-building mill complex—a redevelop- ment of 50 uncommon "live/work" lofts— because the property owner, Karl Frey of BPV Lowell, LLC, was able to show that mostly due to his artist tenants, he's experienced a less than one percent loss in revenue over seven years. "Before, commercial rents were late," says Mattson. "Everyone here is treated as a small business," says artist and WAS Executive Director Maxine Farkas. The more than 200 artists at WAS are currently working in 145 studio units across five floors of two converted mills. Mattson reported that Lofty Ideas The Western Avenue Lofts. photographs by robert boyd