Report: Developer hoping to attract art set to Woodlawn

Searching for large, cheap, customizable space in the city and coming up short? You might boost your odds by picking up a brush and a palette, according to the Sun-Times.

The paper takes a look at the latest trends in the live / work market and focuses on Andy Schcolnik’s long-planned overhaul of the Strand Hotel in Woodlawn. The developer wants to convert the 88-year-old building into 36 residences ranging from 990 to 1,200 square feet and starting at $195,000.

The city can subsidize purchases at the development anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 … provided the buyers can prove they’re “true artists” and pass a peer-review of their work, the story says.

It’s often hard for artists to find housing, even if they’re not starving artists. Artists who want to purchase a place where they can live and work often have trouble finding an affordable space in an appropriate neighborhood.

Artists are known as dreamers. But when it comes to buying property to live and work in, dreaming doesn’t cut it. Artists need to be armed with hard and fast financial and real estate facts before they make investments in property.

Don’t we all…

(The Sun-Times points out that the reopened Grand Ballroom, another Schcolnik rehab in the area, has yet to break even.)

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