Westbeth Artist Residence

We all know the typical gentrification pattern–artists move in to a neighborhood and make it hip; they're followed by trendy coffee shops and cool vintage stores; rents rise; the artists move on to the next frontier. But what if the influx of artists to a neighborhood slowed gentrification? It sounds like an impossible premise, but it just might be taking shape in East Harlem. Fast Co. EXIST takes a look at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109, the project which has transformed an abandoned public school building in East Harlem into 89 units of affordable live/work housing for artists and their families and 10,000 square feet of complementary space for arts organizations. A whopping 53,000 creatives applied to live in the building, where studios will rent for as low as $494/month and two-bedroom units will go for $1,022/month. But isn't Artspace’s goal to break the gentrification cycle—"to preserve the cultural fabric of a small corner of Manhattan that’s starting to change quickly" by preserving its affordable housing?
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