By David Winzelberg
Friday, April 25, 2008
Patchogue’s rebirth could include a little slice of Manhattan’s SoHo. At least that’s what Patchogue officials hope will become of its 103,000-square-foot project planned for Terry Street, one block south of Main.
Artspace, a nonprofit developer of loft-style live/work residences for artists and musicians, will build a 43-unit affordable housing project on the four-acre parcel, which is now the site of two underutilized village parking lots and a vacant house the village recently bought for $375,000.
Village Trustee Lori Devlin said that many artists already call Patchogue home, but a restored Patchogue Theater and revived Patchogue Arts Council have “brought a lot of people out of the woodwork.” Devlin said a first arts show on Terry Street has already been scheduled for September.
Village Mayor Paul Pontieri said the four-story Artspace project, scheduled for a 2010 completion, would create a cultural arts incubator because it would provide artists with a place to live and work.
Village Trustee Gerard Crean said the Artspace project should generate economic activity for the whole village because affluent art collectors will stop by, acquire art, shop downtown and visit restaurants.
Crean said Artspace would also transform some village retail space, and bring arts-related businesses and other new tenants to nearby stores. Minneapolis-based Artspace began developing live/work units for artists in 1979, when rising rents were forcing artists out of Minneapolis’ historic warehouse district. The company has built or redeveloped 19 complexes in metropolitan areas, including Seattle, Houston, Reno and Chicago.
Patchogue’s rebirth has already included housing, including Copper Beech. The village is also anxiously awaiting Tritec’s mixed-use plans for a hotel, retail and residences on Main Street. But the mayor said the Artspace project and the cultural reincarnation of Terry Street “completes the circle” between performing and fine arts, and would bring a new cache to a once tired village.
“Out east, art is an industry,” Pontieri said. “We think it becomes critical to a downtown’s survival.”
Before it closed in 1954, the Patchogue-Plymouth Lace Mill was the village’s largest employer and Terry Street bustled with activity because of it. The mill itself was blocks away – it’s the current site of Briarcliffe College – and a row of small homes built for mill employees still line the eastern end of Terry.
Eventually, Pontieri wants the homes turned into gallery space for the budding Terry Street colony, which would stretch from South Ocean Avenue to Rider Avenue. “It will give an identity to the street,” Pontieri said. “It’s an attraction.”
