South Main Artspace Lofts to be activated in advance of construction

Since the 1980s, the South Main Arts District has been in the throes of a makeover worth many millions. And still it continues. The evidence can be seen from the combined $34 million of the Orpheum Centre for the Performing Arts and nearby Hotel Chisca to the newly renovated National Civil Rights Museum and the South Main Book Juggler.
 
Such projects and shops are at the street level and easy to identify, but others require some amount of searching. One such project is to the south and just around the corner from The Arcade Restaurant, on little-traveled St. Paul Avenue.
 
The South Main Artspace Lofts will bring something much needed to the arts district: affordable housing for artists. In partnership with the Hyde Family Foundations and the City of Memphis, the Minneapolis-based Artspace plans to turn the old United Warehouse into 44 live/work units for artists and their families, community/gallery space and an outdoor artist garden.
 
The total cost of the project is estimated at $12.9 million.
 
Little can be seen of any work completed, or started, at the site as Artspace awaits affordable housing tax credits from the state. Meanwhile, there are plans to previtalize it in much the same way as its community neighbor, the Tennessee Brewery, has done with its wildly popular Untapped events. Artspace will host "a series of events that they call 'building animation' to engage the community and inform people of what's coming and to just do some things in the spirit of what the space is for," says Arnold Thompson, artist and Artspace's local consultant.

Thompson plans to activate the warehouse's loading dock and parking area for the upcoming South Main Trolley Night and each subsequent Trolley Night through August. Art Lounge on the Dock, as it's known, will feature live music and stations for visitors to create their own works of art. This Friday will feature theatre/musical revue Bluff City Tri-Arts Theatre Co.
 
The mission of the nonprofit real estate developer Artspace is "To create, foster and preserve affordable space for artists and arts organizations." Established in 1979, the organization has breathed new life into buildings in Santa Cruz, Calif., Washington, D.C., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Dearborn, Mich., and all around Minnesota, among other locations.