Vancouver artists in fight to save studio space

A group of 30 Vancouver artists is taking its fight to save affordable studios to City Hall on Tuesday.

They are renters in the heritage property at 901 Main St. and some have been there for more than two decades, but a developer, Amacon, wants to restore the building and build condo rental units.

The building — which dates from 1913 and was once the sleeping quarters for motormen working for the BC Electric Railway — has since 1972 been used as artist studios and is part of the area's Eastside Culture Crawl, a popular annual event where artists open up their studios to the public.

The rents average about $1 a square foot, a bargain in Vancouver's increasingly unaffordable rental market.

The artists fear they will be evicted and will not be able to find a place in the city where they can afford to work. Artists are being forced to relocate out in the Fraser Valley because there is very little inexpensive industrial space left available in Vancouver.

Not reassured

Richard Whittstock, vice-president of development at Amacon, said the company is developing another site in Mount Pleasant that will be able to accommodate artists' studios.

"We've provided the artists with assurances that we won't be doing anything on the building for at least a year," he told CBC Radio.

But the artists aren't reassured.

"We repeatedly asked for terms such as the rent and the lease to be written, for us to consider the site, and they're not putting anything in written form," said artist Eri Ishii.

Amacon has applied to the city's development permit board for a permit to turn the building into 10 high-end apartments.

Arts groups plan to ask the city to hold off granting approval for the development until this spring.

That's when it will receive a report it commissioned on the arts and culture infrastructure in the city.