Chittenden-Eastman Company (C & E Building) 2402 W. University Avenue
The wood frame C & E Building was built in 1917 and rises seven stories on about three-quarters of an acre. It originally housed the M. Burg and Sons Furniture Company, then the Hill Furniture Company, then Burlington, Iowa-based Chittenden and Eastman mattress company, which left its name carved in stone across the entrance.
The C & E Building is 142,000 square feet with half of the space leased, predominantly to working artists for studio space and for nonprofit and arts-related businesses such as Graywolf Press. The artists who have their studios in the building also recently formed a co-op gallery on the ground floor, where commercial spaces have been difficult to lease. There are 30 to 32 artists with studios in the building, some of whom have been there as long as 20 years. Rent is below market - we were given a figure of $6 to $12 a square foot net - and includes heat and lights. Several of the tenants are full-time working artists with esteemed careers. Many have bonded as a group and are interested in staying together. Many have "grown up" in the building and feel a particular bond to the facility itself as well as to the neighborhood. Part of the Community Council's objective is to find alternative studio space should the building be sold.
The character of the building lends itself well to office, studio and commercial uses. Housing is more of an issue given the lack of windows on the sides of the buildings combined with the restrictions that historic designation imposes. However, the current configuration of studio spaces is not optimal and access to light is poor in many cases. Some of the spaces are crammed into windowless corners. The building is a good candidate for redevelopment though a retrofit to accommodate life-safety and code issues will be expensive.
The Triangle Building, 2500 W. University Avenue
The Triangle Building, on University Avenue near the intersection of Highway 280, is a 76,000-square-foot structure. As at the C & E Building, rents range from $6-12/square foot. Although we did not go into any of the interior studios or creative business spaces, we did visit one office space and were told that 80% of the building has artists or arts-related tenants. Artistic activity in this building is flying under the radar.
Mattress Building, 550 and 558 Vandalia Street
This 250,000-square-foot building is near the intersection of University Avenue and Vandalia, a few blocks east of Raymond. As its name implies, its original use was that of a mattress company. The first floor of this vast building is currently being used for storage but is underutilized. The second and third floors have been converted into 1,000-square-foot studios; there are 10 studios on the second floor, 18 on the third. There are common area slop sinks and restrooms. Creative business and artist tenants include the Center for Mind-Body Oneness and a woodworkers’ guild. A storage space on the second floor could be ideal for a small theater space. The owner, Alan Peterson, is also the fairly recent owner of the C & E Building. Since the studio spaces are newly built-out in this building, plans for other kinds of use do not seem apparent though the ground floor and the potential theater space seem like ready-made opportunities to continue the artist/creative business build-out.
Neighborhood Driving Tour: South Saint Anthony Park
Amy Sparks and artist/consultant Catherine Reid Day hosted a tour of potential redevelopment sites in the neighborhood on February 12. Although we do not have in-depth knowledge of the circumstances of each property, there appear to be several opportunities for development in the industrial section of the neighborhood between University Avenue and Energy Park Drive.
