Exchanging Creativity for Commerce

When West Berkeley native Willie Phillips walks down Fourth Street, he doesn't see the town he grew up in.

Phillips says he has watched the once-industrial area transform into a region centered around commerce.

Phillips, former president of the West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation, says he once hoped Fourth Street would become a center for the arts, but with only one artist studio and one art gallery, his vision has not been realized.

In an area that is constantly changing, many artists feel they are being left in the dust as development surrounds and crowds them out.

"Artists are becoming very much part of that marginalized class, in a sense," he says.

Phillips says the area's development is creating a "dichotomy" and that West Berkeley artists and artisans are bearing the brunt of the changes.

Fourth Street, a collection of bistros and interior design boutiques, stands in stark contrast with what is left of the industrial town.

"If you can see this as being (culturally) diverse, then you're very imaginative," he says of Fourth Street.

Transformed from an industrial area to a shopping district appealing to upper-middle class homeowners, Fourth Street has contributed to the speedy rise of property prices that has made rent too high for artists.

Warehouses once attracted artists because of low rental costs, space and work-friendly environments. But their low purchasing cost also appealed to commercial developers.

"Developers like to buy where the land is cheap and they can make something of it," says Sean McKinley of Panoramic Interests, a Berkeley real estate development company.

Today, these warehouses are no longer as accessible to artists because commercial development has driven demand, and thus rental rates, up.

West Berkeley architect Timothy Rempel says although there is development of spaces for living and working, they are generally too expensive for the kinds of artists in the area.

Costs of building today in West Berkeley do not lend to creating the affordable space artists want, he says. Though he says the arrangement came from artists like those in the area, new developments are not intended for "financially unsuccessful artists."

And new affordable spaces for artists are rarely being built.

With higher property values, new spaces are not economically viable to build says Patrick Kennedy, president of Panoramic.

Whereas developers feel the conversion of spaces from industrial to commercial use improves the city, artists say the commercial feel of the area is squeezing them out and that the loss of artists will hurt the area's character.

"West Berkeley is really going to lose those people," says Betsey Strange, a painter who has lived and worked in the area since she graduated from UC Berkeley in 1978. "I think it's going to be a real detriment to the neighborhood."

Still, some artists see the development of West Berkeley as a double-edged sword. For all the threat to the space where they work, it also draws a regional clientele with more of a disposable income than the residents of the immediate area.

"(The development) is a concern. It is really growing. On the other hand people are more comfortable coming down here when there's more going on," says Glenda Jordan, a potter who lives in Marin County but works at EarthWorks in West Berkeley. "I'd say it helps, but there's always the chance it will become too trendy and (artists) will give up."

Some fear the area's transformation will permanently change its culture.

"If industrial property gets converted into commercial, West Berkeley will have a very tough time maintaining its identity," says Mary Lou Van Deventer, the operations manager of Urban Ore, a recycling depot which serves artists and artisans. "Once you lose industrial land to shopping malls or condos, it will never go back to industry."

In a changing region, artists say they worry their type of work will not continue to have a home for long.

Betsy Morris, president of the West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Corporation, is afraid for the future of artists in the area.

"Is (West Berkeley) going to become a mini-mall like Fourth Street," she asks, "or are we still going to have places that are flexible for people doing things that don't have audiences yet?"

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