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• A HAVEN FOR ARTISTS: Apartment's developers seek creative tenants
  
  
  October 17, 2007
  
  BY AMBER HUNT
  
  FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
  
  Wanted: Struggling artists willing to live with like-minded people in newly renovated apartments costing $550 a month or less.
  
  After 18 months -- and $5.5 million -- developers of the spiffed-up Whitdel Building in southwest Detroit are set to fill the building's 32 units with area artists. They want to inject the already diverse neighborhood with, well, a little bit of creative cool.
  
  The building sits amid a hodgepodge of abandoned row homes mixed in with other, well-kept homes. "Artists bring the added value to a neighborhood," said John VanCamp, president of Southwest Solutions, which is working with the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit (CAID) to turn the 80-year-old building into a haven for the right-brained.
  
  While many developers aim to turn aging Detroit buildings into low-income apartments and condos, the Whitdel project is unique in that its space is tailored specifically to artists. The building will include a common area for artists in the basement and an art gallery for the public. Nonartists can apply for residence as well, but developers primarily envision painters, actors, sculptors, dancers and musicians living as neighbors. They want a mix of artists and media -- creative types who can feed off of and inspire each other.
  
  "You might have a sculptor or a dancer who wants to learn to draw," said Aaron Timlin, CAID's executive director.
  
  Or, he said, one might be a digital designer willing to help another tenant create a Web site or polish a résumé.
  
  The apartments are clean but basic, ranging from about 350 to 1,000 square feet. The kitchens open into modest-size living rooms, and the bedrooms are outfitted with small closets. But the simple white walls can be an art lover's canvas -- as long as he or she is willing to paint them white again before moving out.
  
  The common basement is divided into two chunks: One side has a computer lab, two rooms for ceramics -- complete with throwing wheels and kilns -- and flexible classroom space where kids can take art classes.
  
  The other half of the basement will be the Ladybug Gallery, which Timlin said will draw artists from all over the country for events like a Dec. 15 show that features food as art.
  
  The premiere of Actual Size Biennial -- an art exhibit featuring pieces with at least one dimension being 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches -- will coincide with the building's Saturday open house.
  
  There are income caps: People who live there must make no more than 60% of the area median income, or about $29,500 for a single person.
  
  The apartments range from about $320 a month for a one-bedroom unit to about $550 a month for a three-bedroom.
  
  As of last week, Timlin said, about 30 people had applied, though no one is yet guaranteed a unit. Applicants must include a résumé and portfolio, though the selection is not dependent upon the art. The more crucial goal is to get a mix of artists, officials said. The first residents can tentatively move in Nov. 1.
  
  Some neighbors are greeting the development skeptically.
  
  "I'm cautiously optimistic," said John Leary, 28, who lives in a house within walking distance of the Whitdel. Leary previously lived in New York.
  
  "It seems like it's good to get people in here," he said. But he said he doesn't want the development to cause area housing prices to climb.
  
  The rent is based on U.S. Housing and Urban Development guidelines, however, meaning that the nonprofit agency Southwest Solutions can't increase the cost. That will ensure that low-paid artists always have a home in the neighborhood, VanCamp said, no matter how housing values fluctuate.
  
  "Artists," he said, "are part of the fabric here."
  
  Contact AMBER HUNT at 586-469-4682 or alhunt@freepress.com.