Is This Condo a Bane or Boon to Gentrification?

It doesn’t look like much from the street – just a vacant lot guarded by a chain-link fence. But last month the patch of ground at 368 East 152nd Street in the Melrose section of the South Bronx fetched $1.15 million from a startup called ArtCondo, which plans to build a seven-story, 21-unit condo for artists, replete with workspaces and a community facility, Curbed reports. In a city that’s perpetually gentrifying neighborhoods and driving out pioneering artists (see Williamsburg, Brooklyn), ArtCondo’s idea is that by owning their homes, artists will be able to withstand the wave of gentrification expected to hit Melrose in the near future, thanks in no small part to the presence of express 2 and 5 subway stops.

ArtCondo’s founder Michelle Gambetta, an artist and real estate agent, writes on the group’s website: “ArtCondo’s overall purpose is to help New York City’s working artists to become financially stable property-owners anchored in their communities, so they can continue to enrich the city’s cultural heritage without fear of losing their housing and/or workspace.” Gambetta says the Bronx project could break ground as soon as April.

But this is New York, so there are skeptics. Ed García Conde, of the website Welcome2TheBronx, notes that the ArtCondo units are expected to cost between $175,000 and $700,000, depending on square footage, which is “out of reach for most Bronx artists.” He writes: “While the concept in theory sounds great, this will only speed up gentrification and continue to push values above market rate at speculative prices and, in turn, further out of reach of Bronxites."