More than 20 artists have already moved out of their studios on Cottage Street in Easthampton in the face of a threatened rent increase.
That’s what tenants organizing against the rent increases are saying. They say more than half of the artists at Cottage Street Studios are facing a rent increase of over 50%, forcing them to make the difficult decision of either vacating their studios and moving elsewhere or accepting the financial burden of much higher rents. And according to those artists, at least 20 of them have decided to leave the building before the September 1 deadline to either sign the new lease or hand in their notice.
The former factory building is owned by the nonprofit Riverside Industries, which supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Riverside has said it has had to raise the rent on the building to fund its mission. Markus Jones, the organization’s senior director of development and strategic operations, said Riverside has accumulated a financial deficit of more than $300,000 on the building, which was gifted to the organization in 1976.
“It was not appropriate for Riverside to continue to manage the building in this manner,” he said. “As part of our strategic planning, we decided to change our relationship with the building.”
Riverside Industries announced a $15 per square foot rent increase in April, which the organized tenants say represents a rent increase of 25 to 125 percent. And while those residents say it’s been common to see smaller rent increases in recent years, Riverside’s recent rent hikes have forced many artists to move elsewhere.
Jones said the organization decided to raise rents about two years ago, and 33 tenants were already paying between $12 and $15 per square foot. What the organization is doing, he said, is proposing an “adjusted rent rate” so everyone is paying the same.
“It means that people who have lived in the building for a long time and whose rent is historically low are being asked to raise it quite dramatically,” he said. “But we think it creates equity among tenants, it’s a reasonable price based on the market and a price point that would allow Riverside to operate the building much more sustainably and reduce the amount that Riverside, the nonprofit, has to pay to keep the building operating.”
Cottage Street Studios is home to nearly 100 tenants, 80 of whom are artists and creative small business owners from the community, the artists said. They include Margret Larson, who has lived in Cottage Street Studios for 16 years. She and her husband rent about 3,800 square feet on the building’s ground floor for their woodworking business and a golf simulator. Larson said their rent would have increased by about $50,000 a year if they had stayed.
“I honestly don’t know of any small business that can do this, especially in the middle of the fiscal year,” Larson said. “So we got that message. We talked to Riverside and tried to talk to them to see if there was anything we could do. And basically we were stonewalled at every turn. They don’t want to talk to us.”
Larson also questioned Riverside’s explanation that the organization is losing money on the building, saying the nonprofit’s tax returns suggest the organization has healthy bank balances. She said Riverside will now lose many studio tenants and will not be able to quickly fill those vacant studios.
Jones said Riverside did not make the decision to raise rent lightly.
“Personally, I really feel for these folks,” he said. “I listen to them, I understand their situation. But here at Riverside, we have a mission, and our mission is to empower adults with disabilities. And we’re really focused on fulfilling that mission, and we have to do what’s in the best interest of Riverside.”
Tenants have also said the new leases are drastically different from previous ones and are more complex. The lease includes new restrictions, including a new insurance requirement, and two clauses that organizers have dubbed “gag orders” in direct response to the campaign. The clause states that “any interference with Riverside’s business operations, any intentional attempt to harm Riverside’s reputation or disrupt beneficial business relationships, including with donors, business partners or board members, is a violation of the lease.” The lease also allows Riverside to change the rules of the lease at any time and for any reason, according to organizers.
Andrea Zax, a custom wedding dress and suit designer, has worked at Cottage Street Studios for nine years, but due to rent increases, she plans to move out of her studio soon.
“I don’t want to sign this lease they gave us. It’s just awful,” Zax said. “A 21-page lease with all these rules and restrictions that are supposed to make their lives easier. None of it is really in our favor. You know, it’s just about us paying our rent, doing this and that and not breaking any of these rules that they can re-make at any time.”
Jones said he disagreed that the language was a “gag order.” He said the language in the lease was in response to organizing by tenants and the Boston-based nonprofit Art Stays Here, which he said has contacted Riverside donors, volunteers and others to get Riverside to change course. This, he said, puts the nonprofit and its programs at risk.
Larson and her husband, along with six other artists from the ground floor they share, plan to move their businesses to another studio in Easthampton. But artists like Zax aren’t sure what their next move will be. Others who have chosen to stay in the building declined to speak to NEPM.
Zax said the situation was similar to processes in other cities like Boston, where artists who breathed life into their buildings were pushed out.
“They’re moving art out of Easthampton and making it easier for other places to charge more,” she said. “The artists come, they make the place more attractive, people come with restaurants and shops, and then the artists are pushed out.”
“The almighty dollar drives the bus,” she said. “And who cares about art and creative people?”
