The One Cottage Street building.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
EASTHAMPTON — Around 20 tenants have either left Cottage Street Studios or have already given notice ahead of time, advocates say.
The recent development comes just a few months after over five dozen artists and creative businesses at One Cottage Street began advocating to keep their workspaces affordable following the announcement by their landlord, Riverside Industries, that rents for tenants will increase come September.
“I’m going to miss the artists themselves and the community of it all,” said Bill Hewitt, a furniture and cabinet maker who gave notice to the building manager that he is leaving his 1,410-square-foot main shop space and 190-square-foot half spray room space on the fifth floor at the end of October.
A 44-year tenant of Cottage Street Studios, Hewitt’s rental rate was set to increase from $9 per square foot to $15 per square foot on Sept. 1, which would have been a 75% increase. In an interview with Reminder Publishing, Hewitt said that this stark increase and the way in which Riverside approached this situation are the reasons why he has decided to leave.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Riverside’s clients over the past 25 to 30 years, taking a bunch of people to hockey games and baseball games,” Hewitt said. “But I haven’t appreciated the dialogue coming from the present administration around this situation. I would say that has been the nail in the coffin for me.”
Riverside, whose mission involves empowering individuals with disabilities, announced in April that the rents for their 100 tenants, around 80 of which are artists and small businesses, will increase by 25% to 125% to a flat rate of $15 per square foot, regardless of size, space, tenure in the building or nonprofit status. Current rental rates in the building range from $5 to $15.
“This amount of increase is untenable for most of us, and it threatens our ability to stay in business,” said Ellen Koteen, a photographer who has worked in the mill building for 18 years, during a July 11 public gathering at CitySpace where tenants and other community organizers spoke out against the rent increase. “We are concerned that the huge rent increase is a bad omen for the city as its revitalization and dynamic cultural climate require affordable spaces for artists and creative pursuits.”
Koteen is a representative of the Cottage Street Tenants Association, which was formed, along with a steering committee, to represent the dozens of artists and creative businesses at Cottage Street Studios who are advocating to keep their workspaces affordable after Riverside’s announcement.
For the past couple months, tenants, some of whom have been in the building for decades, have expressed concerns that an increase this stark would cause mass displacement of artists at the mill building and ruin the community and cultural vibrancy that has been cultivated at One Cottage Street since 1976, when J.P. Stevens donated the 174,000-square-foot building to Riverside for $1.
Markus Jones, senior director of development and strategic operations for Riverside, told Reminder Publishing in early spring that Riverside recently embarked on a new strategic planning process, and found that costs to operate the One Cottage Street building were rising, especially since the coronavirus pandemic, and that the tenant’s rental rates at the current price were not enough to help cover those costs.
Riverside has argued that the increase in rents will help cover these added costs to the building, along with specific capital projects like updating a fire suppression system and installing a new boiler.
“We understand that this is going to be a really hard moment for our tenants,” Jones told Reminder Publishing in June. “I empathize with them.”
Since forming, the Cottage Street Tenants Association has sent three letters to Riverside’s board of directors with the hope of discussing alternatives that meet the needs of the tenants as well as the financial needs of Riverside. Artists said no meeting has been offered by Riverside.
Additionally, nearly two dozen people spoke during the June 25 Easthampton City Council meeting in support of the Cottage Street artists. The council eventually voted in favor of a non-binding resolution in support of affordable workspace for artists, but they cannot control what Riverside does.
With the Sept. 1 date looming large, organizers are arguing that, aside from being too much of a financial burden, the new leases are “vastly different” and “more complex” than previous leases. Tenants are particularly concerned with new restrictions including the level of required insurance and two unusual clauses that they argue are “gag orders” in direct response to the artists’ recent advocacy campaign.
One such clause states that the “tenant agrees that any interference in Riverside’s operations, intentional effort to damage Riverside’s reputation or disrupt advantageous business relationships, including donors, business partners or members of the Board of Directors, will result in a breach of the lease.”
“I am moving out due to the rent increase and antagonistic relationship we now have with Riverside,” said Linda Batchelor, a longtime printmaker and collage artist who joined Cottage Street Studios 30 years ago. “It has been a great place to work and find community with the clients, other artists, and the Riverside staff until recently.”
Batchelor told Reminder Publishing that she will be moving into two rooms in her house that are separated by stairs. She said she will continue to do her art and set up meetings with friends at One Cottage Street.
“I’m lucky to be able to do this move,” Batchelor said. “Others don’t have a choice.”
In a statement to Reminder Publishing, Jones said that advocates and other tenants in the One Cottage Street building have organized an effort to directly contact Riverside’s volunteer board members, corporate donors and business partners to pressure their leaders into changing course.
“We’ve heard from several members of our community who received upwards of 40 emails about this in a single day. Those efforts could negatively impact Riverside’s business relationships,” Jones said. “Some of those folks have asked to be removed from those communications. I see this clause as a way of honoring those requests and protecting Riverside from similar efforts in the future.”
In that same statement, Jones disagreed with tenants’ interpretation of the clauses.
“I disagree with the ‘gag order’ description,” Jones said. “These are simple measures meant to protect Riverside’s programs, program participants, staff and volunteers. Riverside is a health and human service nonprofit, and many people depend on the services we provide. We are protecting our ability to reasonably conduct business in the community and to consistently deliver those services.”
According to organizers, more tenants are expected to leave in the coming weeks and months.
“We’ve been talking a lot about the hypothetical case of our tenants having to leave,” said Margaret Larson, co-owner of Cottage Street Woodworking, who was fighting back tears during the July 11 gathering. “For us, it’s real because we are leaving Cottage Street.”
In Hewitt’s case, he said he will build some type of studio at his farm, but he shared the sentiment that Batchelor did about others not having the benefit of that choice.
He told Reminder Publishing that he cannot forecast what is next for Cottage Street Studios now that artists are leaving, but he is worried about what the future may hold.
“I don’t think the situation is great,” Hewitt said. “But is it dead in the water? I really hope for the people who want to stay,” it’s not.”
Readers can learn more by reading past Reminder Publishing coverage at tinyurl.com/328bt4wv.
