Thursday, March 17, 2011
Art Northside Williamsburg's Last Artists? Not Quite, But Close
Posted by Benjamin Sutton on Thu, Mar 17, 2011 at 11:31 AM
By way of filing an update on North Williamsburg's nearly complete second phase of gentrification, the Brooklyn Paper checks in on artist Aron Namenwirth, who owns the small brick loft building on North 12th Street wedged between beer-in-takeout-Styrofoam-cups-purveyors the Turkey's Nest and the forthcoming luxury condo/hotel combo Williamsburg Hotel. In addition to artists' studios his building housed the excellent art gallery Artmoving Projects, which operated in the ground floor from 1995 through 2008.
The 2005 rezoning that converted much of Greenpoint and North Williamsburg from industrial to residential usage is to blame for the massive increase in Namenwirth's property taxes ("from $12,000 in 1998 to $26,000 last year"). But calling the building "one of the last remaining lofts with artist studios in the neighborhood" is a bit of an exaggeration, no? 60 Berry is still full of artists' studios, as are several buildings over on Driggs and Roebling. There's still hope...
Bonus: For some sped-up gentrification, Aron has made a time-lapse video of the hotel and other nearby luxury buildings going up:
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