Grid Philly - March 2009 - (Page 20) take care of the land, helped residents buy or keep their homes, assisted Greensgrow (an award-winning urban farm) in procuring their land, encouraged a burgeoning artist population and tried to walk the tricky line between revitalization and gentrification. New Kensington, belying its name, actually serves a wide swath of North Philly. Originally it focused on the 19125 zip code, but in 2006 they added the 19134 area, up to the Frankford creek. Their most obvious areas of influence are right near their offices on Frankford Ave. in Fishtown and East Kensington. Galleries like Bambi and Highwire have opened, along with the Rocket Cat coffeeshop. There are still boarded-up buildings and empty lots, but clean parks, galleries and creative flourishes, such as a fence made of old doors, point to a community of artists that have made the area home. Artists started to move into Fishtown after getting priced out by the increasingly gentrifying Northern Liberties. That former industrial hub had fallen into abandonment until artists moved in the ’80s and ’90s, then the area got hip and trendy, and pretty soon it became too expensive for artists and former residents to afford it. In the early part of this decade, artists like Stan Heleva were looking further north, to Fishtown. “We were living in Northern Liberties, but couldn’t afford to buy there,” he says. “But we had heard all about ‘Fishtown, Fishtown’ as a growing artists’ area.” So he and his partner bought a house on Coral St. and started thinking about opening their own theater. New Kensington saw that artists were moving in and decided to try and manage this new change in their area. “We could either embrace the artist or they come in, gentrification starts and the artist community gets pushed out,” Salzman says. “We decided to embrace them because of the energy they bring and because they tend to do creative things with a neighborhood.” In 2005, a long-term plan of New Kensington’s was coming to fruition on Coral and Hagert. Formerly a cotton mill, the largered brick building on the corner had been abandoned for decades until New Kensington bought it in the early ’90s. Inspired by Artspace, an affordable artist housing project in Minneapolis, the Coral Street Arts House opened in 2005, and aside from winning design and historical preservation awards, has housed artists in one- and two-bedroom apartments that go for $300-$700 a month. “The idea is that we already have a lot of artists here; we wanted to give them the opportunity to get settled and put down roots,” says Laura Semmelroth, coordinator of Coral Street for New Kensington. “We realize artists are often pushed out when the neighborhood gentrifies, even if they are gentrifiers themselves.” In 2006, 2509 Frankford Ave. was a wreck, a “falling-down” building as Heleva describes it. He and his partner, Michelle Pauls saw an opportunity for theater. At the same time, New Kensington, which owned the building, was looking to attract artists who would stay in the area. So they sold Heleva and Pauls and their nonprofit production company Be Somebody, the property at $20,000 below market value. After 15 months of rehab where they stripped the building “down to its bricks,” Walking Fish Theatre opened in 2007. Pauls and Heleva live upstairs with their young daughter, Astrid. “Here we are now, wrapping up our second season, and we’re really happy,” says Heleva. “Our business has grown exponentially in between the first and second years.” Their Valentine’s Day Revival Burlesque show sold out and their Family Theatre events, the first Saturday of every month, were popular enough to require more dates next season. Building Businesses new kensington’s area already has dense residential structures and walkable streets that make it easier to both build a strong community and drive less, or not at all. Without strong local businesses, though, residents have to leave the area to work and shop. Michael’s Decorators, a furniture maker and restorer, moved to Frankford Ave. in 1989. Steve Tonuci, whose father started the company, has seen the business change, literally, thanks to the facade improvement grants New Kensington helped them get. “Before, our front was just blank wood, T-11 [a kind of wood siding],” he says. “We used every cent, and it looks 300 percent better.” Now they have a big burnt sienna awning, plate glass windows to show off their furniture and an appealing mix of yellow and red bricks on the front wall. “They’re pretty good people down there,” Tonuci says. “They’ve helped us a lot.” One of the most important functions New Kensington has played over the years is a communications hub for local businesses. New Kensington publishes a directory of local businesses in addition to helping arrange community business events, like the Business Breakfast Meetings that bring local owners together to talk and listen to a speaker about tax issues, how to develop a website and other businesstype things. When Yards Brewery moved into the old → New Kensington’s Garden center blooms with plants for the neighborhood 20 g r i d p h i l ly. c o m march 2009 20
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