Making space for art

From the New York Times:

Orange Gets Creative

FIVE years in the making, the plan to create an arts district in a section of Orange where empty factory buildings now predominate has been refined and readied to go, with construction set to start in early January.

A total of 66 live-work lofts for artists, 8 arts-related retail stores, 17 artist studios and spaces for 9 arts programs are planned for what will be known as the Valley Arts District. Some new construction is planned, but the first large project will involve reconstruction of the seven-story Berg Hat Factory building, which has been empty for decades.

The rehabilitated Berg will house 29 loft condominiums, the 17 artist studios and 3 program spaces for printmaking, dance or recording studios, gallery space or the like.

The core of the Valley Arts District is a five-block stretch of Jefferson Street that cuts across the border into West Orange. Most of the district, however, is set within a city of Orange redevelopment district, and all plans have been developed in concert with Orange city officials, said Patrick Morrissy, the director of Hands, the nonprofit community development company that spearheaded the project and will be one of its three builders.

Hands secured state and federal grant money to help plan and develop the project — joining with the city in a promise to keep the spaces “permanently affordable.”