February 1, 2008
The Advocate
Ousted group sets up shop in old printing warehouse
By: Monica Potts

STAMFORD - Wendi Ohlson, a painter with the Loft Artists Association in Stamford's South End, was not sure she would like her studio in the group's new building.

It was about 300 square feet smaller than her studio in the old Yale & Towne complex a block away. But when she arrived in November, she felt the space was an improvement.

"The energy is good, the light is wonderful, and it's really great that we're all together," she said. "It's cleaned up, but not too much."

That thought was shared by many visitors to the group's grand opening exhibition in their new home at 845 Canal St. last night.

James Cabrera, a co-founder and managing partner of Antares Real Estate, which purchased the Yale & Towne complex in 2005 and also owns the association's new building, and Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, who helped mediate a deal between the two groups, spoke at the event.

"I did believe that we could rehabilitate Stamford in a slightly altered vision that would be better for all people here," he said.

Malloy said that vision included the association, "who, after all, pioneered the revitalization of the South End 30 years ago when they started to drag people down here to see their artwork."

The association learned when Antares purchased the complex that artists' leases would not be renewed. Antares plans to turn their former building into condominiums as part of the redevelopment of more than 80 acres in the South End.

About a dozen artists from Yale & Towne moved into the new building, while the rest found spaces in Norwalk, Bridgeport, or elsewhere in Stamford, Shelly Denning, an association co-president, said. Artists new to the group also decided to rent some spaces; all but one of the 25 studios is occupied, she said.

Denning said the organization's 53 members worried they would not find a home in Stamford, where rents are high, but they have ended up with an upgrade that maintains the industrial, artistic qualities of their former building.

"When I look at the whole way everything turned out, it was a lot of hard work, but it wasn't a big deal," she said.

Many visitors said the new space felt more like a professional gallery. Steve Grasso, 41, an architect who lives in Stamford, said he was pleased association members were finally settled after feeling dislocated for so long.

"I didn't think they'd land on their feet the way they did," he said. Pointing out the columns and large spaces in the building, a former printing warehouse, Grasso said the association was lucky it was not in a more standard office space.

"I didn't know there were any buildings like this that still existed in Stamford," he said. "At least there's some piece of soul in the city."

Copyright © 2008, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.

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