Space Hunt: Mellwood Option 2 900sq ft
Christopher Cprek
Mellwood Arts Center property manager. I have all of her contact
information. I've met her in person while viewing the spaces.
What:
900 square feet for $825 a month. 1 year lease. All utilities in
included. Insurance is required.
Where:
Mellwood Arts Center 1860 Mellwood Avenue. Located off 71 and near
Frankfort Ave. Kind of splits the distance between Downtown,
Highlands, East End.
When:
Currently being renovated. HVAC has just been installed. I dividing
wall will have to be installed in the space to divide it into the 900
sq ft. The property manager has informed me it would be 6 weeks before
it's ready for occupancy.
Why:
This space has a large glass front wall so you can see everything
going on inside. It's the larger option for Mellwood and we'd need to
hit a threshold of 20 members to consider it sustainable. Same
expansion flexibility as the smaller option.
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BiYS7wekKg
Generalities about Mellwood:
-Utilities are included, so it's a fixed cost that's much easier to budget for.
-Plenty of parking available in a large lot across the street.
-There's a bus stop right out front.
-Bathrooms are maintained by Mellwood, which eliminates that as a
potential source of conflict between members.
-24x7 access
-DSL, cable or wireless through bluegrass.net are all available for internet.
-Truck ramp / loading dock / freight elevator
-The art mall atmosphere is spouse and family-friendly.
-Trolley hop and other events increases our visibility as an organization.
Warnings about Mellwood:
I've heard several bad stories from previous tenants that Mellwood is
a bad place to rent. I've also talked with current Mellwood tenants
and heard that it's actually pretty cool. The only thing I know to do
here is go point by point through the complaints and open up the
discussion. I have no vested interest in choosing a Mellwood space.
But I also don't want to have people become overcome by fear,
uncertainty and doubt when legitimate concerns can be addressed in the
leasing agreement language.
1) The building infrastruction is frequently not working and/or in
disrepair and property management is not timely in fixing it.
From past and current tenants I know that there was an incident last
winter where the pipes froze and created flooding on the lower levels.
If it's any consolation, both spots I looked at were on the 2nd floor.
I've also heard the elevators frequently aren't operational. These are
warnings to be wary of for sure. But I've found that these complaints
more often are coming from tenants who rented several years ago and
are not coming from current tenants. The language on the lease could
be adjusted in some way to get things fixed promptly. Honestly, I
accept the fact that this is an old building and things aren't always
going to work. But it is up to the property management to fix those
things. The best I can do to address this issue is that it's good we
know this in advance so we can take precautions.
2) Promised build-out times are not met or delayed indefinitely.
This was from a previous tenant that was one of the first to occupy
the building. It is applicable to Option 2 though, because that is a
planned build out. Again, since we have knowledge that this is
historically a problem we may be able to adjust the leasing language
to address it.
3) The open layout and heavy traffic makes this building less secure.
I looked up the crime map for the area on the LMPD site and there are
no police reports for that area in the past 3 months. I found another
metromap site that did have several police reports listed for the
area, but couldn't find any dates associated with them. All the
reports seemed to be car break-ins in the parking lot across the
street. I interpret these as having a window broken out and valuables
stolen out the front seat. I have no way of knowing if this is
statistically above average, but it is what it is. It was also stated
that with the open layout and heavy traffic things can be stolen
easily from open studios. I can see this happening if someone has a
false sense of security. You wouldn't want to leave a camera or laptop
unattended in what is essentially a public space. But I think there's
less of a chance of someone heisting a CNC or oscilloscope by sneaking
it away in their backpack.
4) There's lots of drama between all the other tenants.
Lots of different people all sharing the same space? Yeah there will
probably be some drama.
/Chris
CTotCW LVL1