It seems clear that most artists working in New York City are in a bind. If you rent a work-only studio (even a fairly priced one) most artists face inevitable yearly increases. Market forces, taxes, and all the other costs associated with NY real estate can add up to annual rent hikes of at least 5%.

ArtCondo might represent a possible long-term solution for artists that can afford to buy into an ownership strategy. Owning your own art studio space is a novel concept. There are a few buildings in NYC that sell commercial coops and condos, but they are a rare commodity. A significant portion of commercial art studio space in the five boroughs is based on a rental market supplied by building owners that can’t convert their industrial property to residential status, and rent to artists as a way to bridge the zoning gap to residential. The rent rolls in most large artist buildings would take decades to cover purchase values that can run upwards of twenty million dollars. If residential variances were ever granted, developers and landlords could recoup their investments much more rapidly, but these higher values would almost certainly exclude artist studio spaces.

ArtCondo’s approach to this conundrum is to give creative artists a chance to control their own studio destiny. This can only happen through ownership, and would require many moving parts to coalesce.