I don't really care about the artists -- no offense -- but the building really needs to be used for something more interesting than federal agencies. It has an interesting history and a potentially spectacular location on the industrial riverfront. Right by a cool park, too. If they spent the stimulus filling in the square miles of parking lots with other useful buildings, they'd end up with something worth having.

Something more interesting than federal agencies ... like art studios or galleries.

dudes, seriously, there are plenty of vacant properties all over - talk to some of the owners - nothing worse than a unit sitting empty ...

@2, yes, but not just them, or primarily them, or particularly them. If I sound less than sympathetic it's simply because I have no illusions about the place of art studios in the urban food chain. They should probably be looking for an abandoned mall somewhere.

I think I owned that refrigerator at one time.

Ironically @3, the only reason these building even have any value in the first place is because the "unrealistic artists" have helped to maintain them over the years, thus saving the landlords a significant portion of the expense of maintaining an abandoned building.

And don't think for a minute those landlords didn't get the better end of the deal: continued rental income to maintain cash-flow; stable, long-term tenants who probably did very little internal alteration of the spaces (artists tend to LIKE big, open, empty rooms and so don't do crazy things like put in walls and such); not to mention a few tax breaks here-and-there, if they (or their accountants) were smart enough to know how to take advantage of that.

These people have been here for 14 YEARS in some instances. I defy ANYONE who's been paying rent month-to-month for that long to NOT feel just a slight tinge of resentment at suddenly being kicked out of a space they had a large part in keeping alive for so long, even you @3, if you had even the smallest iota of compassion for someone else besides yourself, which clearly you don't, but hey, whatever.

Sure, the artists got the benefit of the spaces themselves at below-market rates, as you point out, in general making it a win-win for both sides. But what has happened in these two instances is a pretty a standard scenario: landlord has old abandoned building nobody wants to buy or lease; artists make offer to lease space for below-market and landlord accepts for all the reasons cited above; artists keep space alive for a number of years; landlord decides the market has turned and that the space can now be rented/sold/torn down in order to make a profit once again; landlord kicks artists out of space; artists repeat the cycle with another un/underutilized space.

The artists will no doubt land on their feet in another low-rent space and start the process all over again. What's sad is that we live in a society that forces them to be the lamprey to the landlord's shark, as if that's the best they deserve.

Because @3, I'd be willing to bet they probably contribute more to the overall health and well-being of our civic culture than anything you've done lately.

@8, what you describe is what artists are FOR. It's part of the great gentrification cycle of life. Sadly, federal offices are the one thing that's even less valuable than million-dollar condos as the next stage in the game.

Some of the photos are boring. I mean, I can look at a plain wall any time I want so why would I want to look at a photo of someone else's plain wall.

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It’s disappointing that one aspect not covered in this discussion is the deeply political issue surrounding land use in this city. As a member of a profession that has virtually no access to legislative and civic leaders, nor benefits in the tax code, I want laws surrounding rental agreements to better reflect the needs of the arts community. The damages sustained by artists at 1723 should have been covered by the landowner, and rents not raised; in fact they should have been lowered. Why are leases not written to the advantage of responsible renters, instead of the owners? In fact, why is there private ownership of artist space at all? Artists have jobs, our work, and many work additional jobs because we don’t receive the tax breaks and subsidies of other industries and landowners. Other cities such at San Jose CA and Portland OR provide artists with space, often adjacent to living space. With the inauguration of our new mayor, it’s time to consider a more just land use system to encourage creativity and imaginative environments which will improve the quality of life for all of us in the city.