{"id":83341,"date":"2019-12-10T11:36:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T17:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=83341"},"modified":"2019-12-10T12:05:50","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T18:05:50","slug":"obstacles-in-front-of-building-art-center-with-affordable-space-in-wicker-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/obstacles-in-front-of-building-art-center-with-affordable-space-in-wicker-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Obstacles in front of building art center with affordable space in Wicker Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Yilin Xie<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

Alma Wieser\u2019s plan of building an art center in Wicker Park needs to cross over many obstacles. Raising money is the first. Achieving sustainable affordability in a gentrified area is the second.<\/p>\n

Alma Wieser, the owner of Heaven Gallery, hopes to build a not-for-profit art center on North Milwaukee Avenue. The center will be dedicated to developing art in Wicker Park. A not-for-profit in San Francisco is her model.<\/p>\n

The proposed art center will be in the Lubinski Furniture Store building. The building went on the market on Oct. 10, according to LoopNet, an online real estate marketplace.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a tenant of the building, instead of moving out, Wieser wants to purchase it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no an asking price, and they are just taking offers. We work with a developer to secure the building,\u201d Wieser said. But many developers told her the price the building owner wants is too high.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need over $20 million for the purchase and rehab,\u201d Wieser estimated.<\/p>\n

The Lubinsiki Furniture Store building, built in 1886, is at 1550 N. Milwaukee Ave. It is a retail and residential property with four stories and over 36,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

Community Arts Wicker Park (CAWP), a non-profit organization co-founded and directed by Wieser, leads the art center plan.<\/p>\n

CAWP just finished a grant application for The Field Foundation of Illinois, a Chicago based private independent foundation that supports community empowerment through arts.<\/p>\n

According to the foundation\u2019s website, if a grant is approved, the applicant will receive funding ranging from $10,000 to $50,000, a very small portion of Wieser\u2019s $20-million estimate.<\/p>\n

Wieser explained that the money would be the seed money for her art center, not for the purchase.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be reaching out to both public and private foundations,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen one foundation gives you money, another foundation gives you money. All we need is a starter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The affordability of the building for artists is another problem that CAWP needs to handle.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prices of the neighborhood are no longer affordable for small operations like artists,\u201d said Vincent Uribe, owner of the art gallery LVL3 and an organizer of CAWP.<\/p>\n

According to Wieser, once CAWP acquires the building, it will be placed in a \u201ccommunity land trust\u201d to preserve the building for art development. \u201cIt takes the land away from speculation permanently and provide affordable lands for people,\u201d Wieser added.<\/p>\n

A community land trust is a tool to maintain affordable ownership for cities and neighborhoods, according to the Chicago Community Land Trust (CCLT), a non-profit corporation.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnits in the community land trust portfolio are tied up with a deed restriction that keeps them affordable for a long term,\u201d said Jim Wheaton, the project manager of CCLT.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing prevents somebody from creating the land trust individually,\u201d Wheaton said, \u201cBut we don\u2019t finance the purchase. So her biggest obstacle is getting the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Wieser’s Heaven Gallery is on the second floor of the Lubinski Furniture Store building. (Yilin Xie\/ MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf the entire building becomes a part of the land trust, we have to reach some agreements about how folks would be selected, what the rent would be and what the cost would be,\u201d Wheaton said.<\/p>\n

The old furniture store needs renovation for art development. \u201cThey have to turn a furniture store on the first floor into a usable art space,\u201d Wheaton suggested.<\/p>\n

And he thought CAWP might also need to work on \u201cspace zoning\u201d, a process to arrange the usage of each space inside the building. \u201cIs it going to be a performance space or a live-work space?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CCLT now has 104 homes and condominium units. Most of the CCTL homes lie in neighborhoods that are experiencing or are likely to experience gentrification.<\/p>\n

Chris Jackson, the owner of Jackson Junge Gallery, thinks Wieser\u2019s plan sounds good but only on paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like to say that they are very supportive, but will they put their actual money down?\u201d Jackson questioned. He also pointed out the possibility that another person comes in and purchases the building before them.<\/p>\n

Vincent Uribe, although being an organizer of CAWP, doesn\u2019t \u201cknow a lot about the land trust plan\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the plans have been led by Alma. I\u2019m in it for the community of artists we support. I will be fine going somewhere else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wieser realizes the difficulties, and she is not afraid of failure. \u201cIf we lose the building, all the plans we have done can get transferred to another building. I\u2019m not willing to leave this neighborhood,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her insistence of building the art center in Wicker Park, a place where she has lived for around 20 years, is that she wants to show how \u201cneighborhood benefiting\u201d arts can be.<\/p>\n

Wieser thinks arts are \u201ceconomic drivers\u201d and can bring new people to the neighborhood, which will boost local business and preserve the diversity. Also, arts help people from different culture backgrounds understand each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany cities have created solutions to arts displacement, because they understand the benefits of arts are much greater than anyone can imagine. But Chicago has not yet figured out a solution,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wieser\u2019s art center model originates from a San Francisco non-profit real estate development organization, Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

CAST now owns two deed restricted buildings for permanent arts and culture uses. And with the help of philanthropic grants and incentive policy, it provides affordable spaces to arts organizations in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe received $5 million to purchase the two buildings and launch CAST in 2013,\u201d said Tyese Wortham, the director of community engagement of CAST. \u201cWe are money-driven and that solves a lot of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wortham mentioned that in order to build\u00a0 CAST model, they founded a board at the beginning that consisted of experts in construction, data visualization, arts and affordable housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cA model works in San Francisco could definitely be modified for another city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But the rising rent in Wicker Park and the limited profitability of small arts business are realities artists have to face. For artists like Wieser, it is crucial to find a sustainable way for art development.<\/p>\n

Wieser\u2019s art gallery sets up a retail store to subsidize its revenue. And according to her, the art center is going to provide trainings to artists and arts organizations about how to create a revenue streaming.<\/p>\n

Wieser is hoping that if they can give artists affordable spaces and relative training, arts will thrive in a bustling, vibrant area like Wicker Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo that we are not constantly asking for money. We can be independent a little bit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Photo at top: Alma Wieser, the owner of Heaven Gallery, has founded Community Arts Wicker Park (CAWP) to organize the purchase of the Lubinski Furniture Store building. (Yilin Xie\/ MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Yilin Xie Medill Reports Alma Wieser\u2019s plan of building an art center in Wicker Park needs to cross over many obstacles. Raising money is the first. Achieving sustainable affordability in a gentrified area is the second. Alma Wieser, the owner of Heaven Gallery, hopes to build a not-for-profit art center on North Milwaukee Avenue. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":630,"featured_media":83346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,4780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-fall-2019"],"yoast_head":"\nObstacles in front of building art center with affordable space in Wicker Park - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/obstacles-in-front-of-building-art-center-with-affordable-space-in-wicker-park\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obstacles in front of building art center with affordable space in Wicker Park - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Yilin Xie Medill Reports Alma Wieser\u2019s plan of building an art center in Wicker Park needs to cross over many obstacles. Raising money is the first. Achieving sustainable affordability in a gentrified area is the second. Alma Wieser, the owner of Heaven Gallery, hopes to build a not-for-profit art center on North Milwaukee Avenue. 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