Fayetteville Underground officials are asking the local community for a little help in their transition to a new home in downtown Fayetteville.
After occupying the basement level of the East Square Plaza building for more than two years, the officials in July announced that building owners Ted and Leslie Belden plan to sell the building, and that the gallery’s lease would not be renewed.
Organizers hope to raise $50,000 by Dec. 15 of this year under the new ‘Save The Underground’ capitol campaign to offset costs for a new gallery and studio space.
From the announcement:
The Fayetteville Underground is entering its next phase of development. After two-and-a-half years of award winning success occupying the basement level of East Square Plaza, the board and artists of the Underground are calling on the community to help support its move to a new location downtown.
Fayetteville Underground is a 501(c)(3) non-profit community arts organization that is currently home to fifteen artist studios, and four commercial art galleries.
The gallery’s lease at the current location expires January 15, 2012.
Those who wish to contribute to the campaign may do so online via PayPal, by dropping off a check with “Save the Underground” in the memo line at the gallery, or by mailing a check to 21 W. Mountain St., Suite 227, c/o Greg Mack, Treasurer.
Maybe the money for the WAC should be redirected to Fayetteville Underground…
do i have this right? this building sat dormant for a long time. some creatives developed an arts organization, which oh-by-the-way could utilize a large portion of said building. along with the ddp Gallery, the Underground sparked our First Thursdays and a revitalization of the Square. now the local government is responsible for kicking them to the curb? so the government can expand? sound jacked-up to me.
The city decided not to expand into that (or any other) building at this time. I thought we mentioned that somewhere. If not, I’ll review my notes and get something worked up. I’m out of the office right now.
thanx, Todd — i may have missed that update. glad that i asked before i got too worked up :)
I’m kind of excited that someone is buying that building. I wonder what will go in there…..
Maybe a Ruth’s Chris…..Oh lawd……
how much you want to bet that someone buys that building and it fails again, and they reinvite the underground (the only really successful thing in the damn building) back to the site..
once again, progress shoots itself in the foot. fayetteville is a perpetually small town trying to wrap itself in the trappings of culture without ever actually long term supporting it. god knows the waltons can handle their own art center, maybe invest in something that isnt already backed by a mega corporation for once.
Sounds to me that this is PR spin for “Fayetteville Underground didn’t uphold their responsibility to pay their rent”. I do hope that they can gather the necessary funds to exist, as the Underground is a very cool place and is a much needed service to the culture of Fayetteville.
imo you’ve hit the nail on the head there dude.
Sadly, at this point there is no publicly or non-profit owned building for an arts collective in Fayetteville. That is a longterm goal that someone needs to work towards.
Its sad the Underground is losing their spot, but until there is a viable rent-free location for an arts collective of sorts, this will always be an issue. Perhaps the city owns a property they could loan the Underground.
Perhaps the City could chip in with the old Mexican Original building.
I was thinking that or in the old elementary school in Walker Park neighborhood.
Excellent, idea, David! I tried to get the Council to approve using the Tyson bldg. for exactly that. There is a great space (huge, ready for use black box) in the back for both theater and art. Even had renderings drawn up to show how it would work. Could not find the needed support from the Council. It would have been great. I knew this day would come.
Can you refer us to your detailed proposal and a vote of the City Council on this issue?
That was a real question. I have been trying to find your proposal and the Council vote, but the pay wall on the local paper makes it difficult. I was able to find articles about your proposal to make it a police station and one article about how you planned to use it for a bottled water distribution facility, but nothing on your proposal for the arts. Please help.
Dan Coody–
The biggest drawback to the Mexican Original location is that it has no synergy with the Square. It might make up for that if enough different organizations occupied it to, effectively, create a whole new occasion– Second Thursday, or Mid-Month Monday or something. Could a Farmers’ Market work there? Artists’ studios? (Would need windows and/or skylights.) And so on.
I believe that the building envelope could be insulated and finished out in such a way that it could be used for studios/galleries/performance spaces created with temporary walls, then vacated when needed for a permanent tenant who would appreciate the permanent finishes.
Do you have or know where I could find architectural/engineering drawings for the building, and/or a copy of that re-use proposal?
Has anyone done an assessment of the cost of asbestos abatement at that building?
It’s been a while, but I think the Community Design group did a few renderings. I don’t think there is any asbestos, but the roof leaked in a few places. There is room for a multitude of uses. I especially like the food truck ideas.
The Underground might not want to take the same path as another local outfit:
Ozark Natural Foods decided to BUY their building years ago & now because they are panicking about the possibility of competition coming in, they are trying to pay it off ($1m +) in the next 18 months (if memory serves).
Bad idea, to nuke your working capital.
Much better to negotiate a good LEASE, from an art-friendly landlord !
there’s something wrong with the location of the Mexican original bldg- is that where you’d want to be if you were trying to attract the public to your art space? its sad that we subsidize so many other enterprises-many that are destructive in some way.
To make it work you’d need a food attraction, food carts maybe. Is there room for the farmers mrkt to have a store for home made products and crafts?
Very true. Availability of food and drink is one of the attributes of a successful place. Maybe refrigerated storage could be available on-site for food cart and food truck vendors so their supplies could be kept nearby, keeping overall costs down. Cooking demonstrations and food fairs could be regular events.
Here is a brief article about the qualities of successful places. While its focus is outdoor spaces, much of the underlying thought still applies– particularly if a new location must replace the synergistic environment of Fayetteville Underground as well as the building it is in.
http://www.pps.org/articles/grplacefeat/
Isn’t there a building next door to the county courthouse that is going to be demolished to make way for a parking lot? I realize its probably owned by Washington County rather than Fayetteville.
There is some empty real estate on Center Street. I wish we knew what all buildings the city and county own in the downtown area.
The Mexican Original building could be used for artist space, but then there could be gallery space on or near the Square that could be used for First Thursdays, etc.
It is my understanding that the Mexican Original aka Tyson’s building has a lot of problems, in addition to being in the wrong location to revitalize a downtown arts scene. Not only is the roof in poor repair but vandals stripped the building of every bit of copper they could remove, which I believe includes both plumbing and wiring. It is no wonder that the building now sits vacant–expensive repairs will be needed before it can be used for anything.
So, what happens to First Thursdays if the Underground moves off the square? Does First Thursday move with it, or does First Thursday go kaput? Because it seems to me the the FU is about 75% of what happens on First Thursdays…