Escape Artists

Gentrification and rising rents are driving artists out of Capitol Hill. Can the city find a way to help them stay?

There may be no better way to experience Seattle’s raw, bursting energy than by spending a Saturday evening on Capitol Hill. The Pike/Pine corridor, once an eyesore, now rocks with pedestrian activity. Hip young things stream in and out of clubs and cafes. And, when it gets late enough—or when you drink enough—even the gleaming new retail/residential condo complexes begin to look kind of nice.

But there’s another story unfolding beneath the bistros, bars and babbling hipsters of Broadway and 12th Avenue. This neighborhood—once so renowned for its cultural assets—is losing the artists and organizations that helped bring it to life. The twin culprits: rising real estate prices and fast-paced development.

In the last year, three prominent buildings have been sold or shuttered, displacing dozens of artists and a handful of arts organizations that simply can’t afford the rents set by the new property owners. In January, developer Ted Schroth bought the Odd Fellows Hall—a 99-year-old landmark that has housed numerous arts organizations—and promptly raised rents enough to force out Velocity Dance Center and Freehold Theatre. In June, the Capitol Hill Arts Center (CHAC) closed its facility on 12th Avenue when its lease was not renewed (though it is searching for another location). And in July, developer Michael Malone purchased the COHO Building—a live/work space for dozens of artists on 12th Avenue between Pike and Pine streets—and applied to rezone the building as commercial, effectively evicting the current tenants.

These sales have reignited some long-smoldering discussions. Artists themselves are up in arms over rising rents and aggressive developers. Hundreds of community stakeholders attended two heated public discussions in January and April of this year, the first held at CHAC and organized by the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, the second held at City Hall and co-sponsored by Seattle City Council member Nick Licata. The overwhelming public outcry alarmed Licata and fellow councilmember Sally Clark who, in response, founded the Cultural Overlay District Advisory Committee (CODAC) which met for the first time in July. The goal of the residents, arts administrators, developers and finance experts who make up the committee is to figure out creative ways to preserve art and entertainment spaces, and keep artists in Seattle neighborhoods. The committee presented a series of recommendations to the City Council in September. Along with requesting funding to continue its work, CODAC recommended legislative improvements including zoning incentives, increased availability of information to artists and administrators and public/private partnerships.

“We don’t want to accept that the natural evolution is that we keep seeing arts organizations displaced,” says Clark. “I’m convinced we can find policies and incentives that can keep the arts healthy on Capitol Hill.”

Try telling that to sculptor Chris Vondrasek who moved to Capitol Hill from Chicago in 1984. He’s dealt with rising costs of Seattle studio space for almost 25 years. After 12 years in a building on 12th and Pine, Vondrasek was forced in 1996 to move his workspace to the Rainier Cold Storage Stock House in Georgetown, where he spent nine more years. But after Sabey Corporation bought that building in October 2006—and  demolished it earlier this year to make way for a mixed-use development—he moved again, this time to a less expensive studio space on Marginal Way. 

Vondrasek isn’t alone in his pilgrimage from Capitol Hill to Georgetown. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many of Seattle’s artists relocated to this neighborhood’s spacious, aging buildings with its gritty yet vibrant bars and restaurants. But with Georgetown now discovered by the masses, many fear that more artists like Vondrasek will be priced out.

“As long as artists are exposed to the whims of the real estate market, I don’t know how things are going to change too much,” Vondrasek says. In fact, Seattle’s artists have been subjected to constant price pressures over the decades; in the 1970s, artists in Pioneer Square were priced out of that area by the neighborhood’s increasing desirability.

So when asked about the recent media attention focused on Capitol Hill, Vondrasek offers another perspective. “Most of the artists were already gone by the mid-1990s,” he says. “The COHO Building folks were like the last holdouts.”

His view is essentially echoed by Greg Lundgren, former owner of outsider-art driven Vital 5 Productions and current owner of The Hideout, a favorite First Hill watering hole for the creative set (which Lundgren calls “a five-year performance art installation with a full bar”). Lundgren waxes philosophical about the changes.

“It’s always a shame to see longstanding neighborhoods undergo gentrification,” he says. “But I think it’s the natural order of a city growing up. Look at New York. Williamsburg is not affordable anymore. It’s just the way that every city evolves.”

The Seattle city government, however, isn’t buying the natural order argument. Michael Killoren, director of the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, believes that the city can—and should—take action against the exodus of artists from Capitol Hill.

“As a community, we have agreed that arts and culture are important to our neighborhoods, to the quality of life and to economic vitality,” Killoren says. “The arts serve as anchors in our community. The City of Seattle has a track record of investing in dedicated cultural space,” he says, pointing to several bathhouse theaters in the city, including the one at Green Lake. “We can’t do it all, and we don’t have all the answers, but I think there is a role the city can play.”

But how, exactly, can you combat something as persuasive as profit? How can you convince developers to provide artist-friendly live/work spaces at artist-friendly prices, especially when private firms and tenants are willing to pay full market value?

For starters, the city will need to institute zoning incentives, Killoren says, possibly by rewarding developers for including arts-friendly space within projects. For instance, a commercial bonus program could allow developers more floors in exchange for certain amenities, including performing arts theaters, affordable live/work units and more.   Whatever steps the city takes will most likely be supported by King County. The county’s cultural services agency, 4Culture, shares the city’s passion for investing in dedicated arts space. “Displacing artists and arts businesses affects communities, not just artists,” says Paige Weinheimer, a 4Culture staffer who also sits on the CODAC. “That’s an important distinction. Saying it’s just a problem for artists is like saying that driving out restaurants only affects chefs.”

To date, King County—and 4Culture, specifically—have supported Seattle’s artists and arts organizations through a combination of grants for cultural facilities, public art commissions, and the formation of CODAC itself.

Increasingly, nonprofits and private companies have stepped in to assist the city and county in their efforts to provide affordable arts and culture spaces.

Artspace, a nonprofit real estate developer for the arts, has built two artist-specific live/work complexes: the Tashiro Kaplan Artist Lofts, on the northern edge of Pioneer Square; and the Hiawatha Lofts, a $17 million, 61-unit complex located in the Central District. (Both buildings were funded by grants from the city, the state and private foundations.) Together, they provide rent-controlled housing to artists and other low-income Seattleites.

“Having space that is owned and operated by nonprofits dedicated to the arts ensures that it will continue to provide that space as organizations come and go,” says Cathryn Vandenbrink, regional director of Artspace’s Seattle office. “I hope we are always blessed with the creative renegades who provide unexpected visual delights and performances in the least expected places.”

Some arts insiders argue that the artists themselves should take more responsibility for their financial well being. Matthew Kwatinetz, CEO and former producing artistic director of the Capitol Hill Arts Center—whose tireless lobbying in support of creating a cultural overall district began in the fall of 2007—is one of those insiders. “What we need to realize,” he says, “is that artists actually have a huge part in making those rents rise.” They help make areas desirable, leading to increased rents—thereby pricing themselves out of their own neighborhoods.

“And the issue to me is not so much that rents are rising, but that artists aren’t educated as to how to capitalize on the value they bring,” Kwatinetz continues. He notes that artists are part of the economic engine and should be supported as such.

Lundgren remains optimistic about Seattle as an arts town. “Ultimately, I don’t see Seattle losing its artists, or its identity and culture, as a result of development,” he says. “If you look at Los Angeles or New York or London or any other major city, you’ll see people creating things with whatever they have. And art is going to continue to be created in Seattle even if the developers take every square inch of Capitol Hill.”

He may be right. But less certain is what places like Capitol Hill will look like—and who will ultimately want to live there—after all the artists leave.