What happened in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, and what could happen in Saint Anthony Park, is widely known as the "Soho Effect" after the New York neighborhood that became an arts district in the 1970s only to lose most of its artists as rents shot up in the 1980s. As the artists move in, the property values often rise, creating an inverse relationship between the number of artists in an area and an area's affordability.
A recent study by economist Ann Markusen of the Humphrey Institute also reveals a slight increase in the out-migration of artists in the Minneapolis/ Saint Paul area. This could be due to a combination of factors, including the availability of affordable space and length of time an artist stays in the area.
