OAKLAND, CA - Oakland is home to a vast underground arts community, whose members often find the most affordable work and living spaces in warehouses in West or East Oakland. Still, the real estate boom has been tough for many artists and arts groups that were displaced by rising rents and new construction. That will not be a problem for the future residents of the Noodle Factory in West Oakland.
In one of the few projects of its kind in the country, the Northern California Land Trust is turning an old industrial noodle factory at 26th and Union streets in West Oakland into permanently affordable spaces that will be sold to working artists at steeply discounted prices. The space already had been taken over as an underground artists collective.
Once completed, the bright blue building will feature 11 work/live spaces, a café, and a 2,700-square-foot rehearsal and theater performance space. It incorporates green technology and features solar panels that will power up to 75 percent of the building's electricity and hot water. It also has heavy-duty finishes, soundproofing and ventilation that allows artists to do whatever it is they do, sculpt, solder, paint, compose, edit film and more. Ian Winters, NCLT executive director, said the Noodle Factory's former owner, Dana Harrison, had wanted to do the same thing after watching so many artists struggle and popular cultural arts and performance spaces close down.
In just the past five years, the Oakland Box Theater lost its downtown space and Oaklandish was forced out of a second-floor warehouse in Jack London Square because of permit and zoning issues. Then 21 Grand, another performance/arts organization, had to move twice in two years before settling on 23rd Street downtown. Harrison did a great job laying the groundwork, but after seven years of dealing with a daunting morass of permits, plans and such, Harrison realized she couldn't do it alone, Winters said. She approached the Northern California Land Trust, which purchases and rehabilitates housing that is then sold to low-income buyers. A deal was sealed.
Winters said he soon realized the unique project required special attention and care that required the involvement and blessing of the West Oakland artists' community. As a result, Harrison and other artists sit on the Noodle Factory's advisory board. Anyone who had lived or worked in Harrison's collective was assisted with relocation and was given the first right to buy one of the units in the renovated building. Several expressed interest. But the project has taken so long, most have moved on, and out of the Bay Area, said Winters, who is a multimedia artist specializing in film, video and photography installations.
There are plenty of other artists standing in the wings, who while interested, have yet to take the next step. "It's a great possibility, a good space. I like the idea that there will be a café downstairs, and a space for events and screenings," said DaCarla Kilpatrick, a multimedia artist who recently moved to the Bay Area from Los Angeles and toured the space during an open house. "It's amazing, the down payment assistance is almost too good to be true."
The affordable units range in size from 700 to 1,250 square feet and will be sold below market rates, with one 1,800-square-foot unit sold at market rate. Artists who are first-time homebuyers could qualify for up to $135,000 in down payment assistance, said Ingrid Jacobson, the land trust's housing and solar project manager. Net sales prices range from $175,000 to $275,000 after subsidies. With that amount of help, some earning little more than $25,000 could buy a unit, she said.
By holding the land and issuing long-term leases the land trust is able to ensure the work/live spaces remain affordable, even if they are resold. Winters said it's a great benefit to hav
Source: InsideBayArea.com