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Maker of military helmets to evacuate basement of Fort Point artists' building
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Comments
A shame
I'm going to miss the Kevlar = Art argument. Probably the best comedy that theater space will ever see.
Lots of issues here. The
Lots of issues here.
The developer got to buy the building for $1 so it could be used by artists. The BRA gets to decide who's an artist. But then the developer leased the space to a manufacturer anyway.
The building is zoned mixed commercial and residential.
Maybe the chemicals used in the manufacturing were causing problems for other tenants (or maybe that was just an excuse). But surely there are laws and guidelines for this kind of thing, and ways to measure it.
I think keeping manufacturing businesses in the city is a good idea. But maybe in this instance it doesn't make sense.
Of course there's also the politics. From the article, it looked like many of the artists opposed sharing the building with a defense contractor.
Agree with all your points
Agree with all your points here. Complicated issue, for sure. I would also love to see manufacturing stay in the city, but don't understand why it had to be in one of only a handful of buildings citywide that are designated live/work. However, I also feel terrible that a small business spent time and money renovating a space that they shouldn't have been allowed to lease in the first place. The artists AND Ops-Core have a right to be pissed, as far as I'm concerned.
However, that Dave Rogers is coming across as a real douche bag. His initial email to the artists was incredibly rude, and his parent company, Gentex, had to step in to do damage control. Now he has another fairly condescending post on his company blog. Way to be professional.
war profiteers in an artists loft?
An important question to consider:
Did Ops-Core or the building owner pull the proper building and other permits for their build-out and certificate of occupancy? If yes then ISD would've had the opportunity to flag the project for review by zoning board and/or the BRA. To have a manufacturing use type in a residential-commercial (mixed use) zone requires permission from the zoning board. A paint shop needs special equipment per code for ventilation, and ISD wouldn't miss this. I suspect that the BRA and the mayors office knew about this war profiteer all along and were hoping there'd be minimal outcry, but once rogers wrote a nasty letter to the artists, no reconciliation was going to be possible.
In said letter, Rogers referred to the artists as "merely self-delluted bullshiters and drama queens who use art as an excuse to justify and rationalize their pathetic existence while mooching from others to sustain a living."
Still though, you've got to wonder how they got past permitting/zoning and ended up in an artist's loft?
In my reading of it
To answer your last:
In my reading of it I think it was a gradual shift from single-piece refurb to a more (re-)manufacturing based process. They started there as one thing, and then changed both the type and scale of work. The Fort Point blog has some of the data.
Fort Point Boston
Interesting point re:
Interesting point re: permitting/zoning. I've been kind of thinking that most of the blame lies with Keen, but we already know that Rogers was familiar with the building and its particular requirements for occupancy, and it is entirely possible that the BRA knew as well. Rogers really shot himself in the foot by being so nasty to his neighbors; nothing unites people like a common enemy. I'm glad the artists prevailed for once! I have friends in that building, and used to live in a similar building myself. These types of spaces are far too rare in this city, and it was painful to think of people being driven out by someone who could set up shop at any number of other locations.
Manufacturing spaces are also
Manufacturing spaces are also rare.
Was anyone driven out by Ops-Core's presence? All I read was that the former theater space was sitting vacant.
That Rogers has a lot of nerve.
First of all, the Fort Point area was zoned and developed for live and/or live-in working artists.
Secondly, Rogers derogatory comments about the artists really don't ring true. The vast majority of artists are not self-deluding, are not moochers, and are working artists (inotherwords, artists who have some sort of steady job, either full or part-time, to support themselves and have a steady income so they can pay rent or mortage (and condo fees, if they own), pay their bills, and put food on their tables.
Who is that Rogers guy kidding?
As I understood the original
As I understood the original articles about this situation, that the lender the building management needed to secure more income from the auditorium space to secure new financing or pay their monthly mortgage. Now that the manufacturer has left the building and historically the auditorium has not generated the revenue that was originally anticipated, I wonder about the long-term viability of this project.