Browsing racks of threads sporting his original sewn-on patchwork, Jeff
Henry oozes passion. He tried to avoid an artist’s life. That’s why he
studied advertising at Michigan State University.
But along the
way, he generated some buzz with the random bits of thrift-store fabric
that he cut and spliced onto his personal wares. Now, standing in his
space along South Division Avenue, flanked by a sewing machine and
T-shirts labeled “Omen of the Defamed” and “anything else that sounds
cool,” Henry is totally in his element.
“It became this little
side hustle I had my senior year in college,” says Henry, 27. “This is
the first creative thing I’ve done that’s been profitable. I didn’t
want to be a starving artist, and I ended up being one anyway.”
Curiously,
the lifestyle fits his new home to a tee. Henry this spring moved smack
dab into the Heartside district of Grand Rapids, amid a population of
homeless shelters and soup kitchens. On the ground floor of one of
Dwelling Place’s newest live-work spaces, Henry runs his fledgling
Unlocal Clothing Co. And up a spiral staircase to a bare second-floor loft, he sleeps.
The arrangement just might be his meal ticket.
“I’m
so ready just to make this happen that I literally am here from when I
wake up to when I go to sleep. I couldn’t think of a better setup,”
Henry says. “You’re not doubling up your bills.”
Henry’s
2,100-square-foot home office is one of seven live-work spaces in Verne
Barry Place, the renovated former Dwelling Place Inn on the east side
of Division, south of Weston Street. He is the first to occupy his
particular unit. Nearby, in Dwelling Place’s previously redeveloped
properties along Division, some of the original resident-artists are
moving out and making way for new arrivals.
The transition
maintains momentum toward molding the Avenue for the Arts into a
sustainable hub of positive social and economic activity, says Jenn
Schaub, who works in neighborhood revitalization for
Dwelling Place .
“When
we talk about wanting to attract new talent, (Henry) represents that
talent,” she says. “We’re seeing a little bit of a regime change. We’re
seeing some of the first wave of people who moved in switching out and
we’re seeing some new faces.”
Part of the nonprofit Dwelling
Place’s purpose is to be a catalyst for neighborhood rebirth. Enter the
live-work unit, what Schaub describes as “a commercial space that’s
fully outfitted to be a living space as well.” In 2005 and 2006, 23 of
them opened in Martineau Apartments. One more opened that year in
Chaffee Apartments and then in 2007 another 14 became available in
Kelsey Apartments. Add the seven in Verne Barry Place and Dwelling
Place now has 45 live-work spaces.
Three of the spaces, like the one occupied by
Creo Productions ,
are being used solely for commercial enterprises. Says Creo’s Aaron
Carriere, 27: “Most people are surprised there is an audio studio
tucked away in the basement of Division.”
Indeed,
there is a curious buzz about the Avenue for the Arts. At Heather
McGartland’s 1,300-square-foot Imagination Creations, the 38-year-old
tenant/businesswoman likes “when people go: ‘What is this place?’”
Hers
is like most of the live-work spaces that have a residential component.
Her personal bathroom doubles as a fitting room/restroom for customers
of her hair salon and handcrafted goods shop. “My whole life is kind of
merged up front. It’s like living in a fish bowl,” she says.
Of
the live-work spaces, 35 have income restrictions. With rents of $577
to about $800 per month, they present “a great opportunity for people
who are just starting businesses,” Schaub says. In turn, with Dwelling
Place assistance such as scholarships for business training, the new
population of creative thinkers spurs economic growth in the neglected
Heartside corridor.
That was Nick Stockton’s hope when he
moved into one of the Martineau live-work spaces in 2005. He passed up
a master of fine arts program to open Fwd. Space, a contemporary art
gallery, and run live screen-printing events. His girlfriend, Sally
England, in the same place hosted a boutique of locally-handmade goods
called Space Craft. The pair recently moved to an apartment in Heritage
Hill, and Stockton has parlayed his entrepreneurial experience at
Martineau into a company that makes bags out of boat sails, bicycle
tires and other reusable material.
“Having
a store front gives you an opportunity to have a face as well as a
space to live and work,” says Stockton, 30. “I actually ended up
probably learning more than if I went to grad school.”
Still, Stockton said Heartside bums and ever-present drug deals posed challenges to living there. Plus, he missed green space.
“It
was really hard for me to leave because we put our hearts into making
this something,” Stockton says. “It just gets trying. I think there
might be a shelf life for living there. I don’t know if that shelf life
eventually gets longer.”
Daniel Koert will find out if the trail
blazed by Stockton and others smoothed some of the bumps. He is moving
into Stockton’s former Martineau space, a long, narrow hall bisected by
a bathroom; Storefront window on Division, bed and kitchen in the rear.
A mechanic at Ada Bike Shop who pedals the 10-mile trek to work, Koert
dreams of using his art to run a downtown shop someday. For now, he
plans to host weekly bike rides and other events.
Perhaps more than growing a business, he aspires to be part of rebuilding the Heartside neighborhood.
“To
get into the innards of it, living right down in the commotion, is what
I want to do,” says Koert, 25, a Spring Lake native. “Literally, I get
out of bed, walk 10 feet and open the door.”
Bicycles and spare
tires are littered throughout Koert’s space. Out back, about a dozen
older models are lined up in a corridor. “That one I found at an estate
sale,” he says, pointing to an old red Schwinn. About a blue bike he
explains that “this one actually was purchased by my grandmother brand
new in 1967.” The parts are his palette, and he hopes to share them. As
many as 120 people have shown up to his weekly 9 p.m. Wednesday bike
rides around town. Now, his space at Martineau will be the gathering
place.
“Meeting up there (in Heritage Hill) is nice, but if I
have 100 kids down here they’re going to see other shops,” Koert says.
“I believe in community. If I can make enough to stay here, have a
functioning space and eat, I’m happy. I just want to be down here to
have fun and get people riding bikes.”
Down
the street in one of Dwelling Place’s market-rate live-work spaces,
Henry plans a June 1 grand opening of his Unlocal outlet. The Owosso
native moved from Chicago in March when he hooked up with a local
investor, and now plans to debut a new line of clothing and expand
custom work that includes hard rock band Papa Roach as a client.
“This
will be the first retail location of our own,” Henry says. “We found
the space and thought it was perfect. People can see us in the process
of doing it.
“This block has the potential to be where everybody
would come to find the niche” clothing store or handmade goods boutique
or bike shop or…
You fill in the blank. It could become one more reason to visit the Avenue for the Arts.
“If
you would have come down to South Division five years ago, it was kind
of a dead zone,” Schaub says. “For the most part, all the buildings
were boarded up. There was no reason to get people to come down. The
vision (of the live-work spaces) was to infuse the neighborhood with
life all around. It’s to bring 24-7 activity.
“We believe in the idea of the creative class.”
Matt Vande Bunte writes about business, government, religion and
other things. His work has appeared in newspapers including The Grand
Rapids Press and Chicago Tribune and in assorted sectors of cyberspace.
Photos:
Verne Berry Place, South Division
Unlocal Clothing Co. 62 South Division
Live-Work Spaces South Division (3)
Photographs by Brian Kelly -All Rights Reserved