Space Hunt: Mellwood Option 1 550sq 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:
550 square feet for $550 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:
Available immediately.
Why:
This is probably the smallest space that could be considered
acceptable. However it is affordable now with our current membership.
It should be considered a 'foothold' option. I.e. it's a small space
to get established within a 1 year lease. There are many small studio
rooms available for as little as $150. I see this as a way to quickly
expand within the same complex as needed. If 3 more members join, we
could get pick up an extra room and designate it as a CNC room or
something. I'm not saying we will, but it's nice to know there's that
flexibility without having to move to an entirely new location.
This space has:
-Tall open ceiling, so it's not completely closed off to potential
pole vaulters.
-220V outlet
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74wm-fPlLs8
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
na
Be advised, old elevators do break down fairly often. The problem with
timely repairs may not be the building management, as I've dealt with
elevator repairmen. They are few in number and all members of the
elevator erectors union, no exceptions. If they are busy, or just don't
like the people who run the show for whatever reason, they can and do
delay repairs. It is a monopoly, and there isn't usually anything that
management can do about 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.
>
On a related note, can we have lockers inside the space rentable by dues
paying membership? Certainly not everything that be may want to keep
will fit in a locker, but small personal tools, kits in progress, etc.
> 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.
>
In any commons, it would be helpful to know who the neighbors are and
what they do.
Creighton
Cindy Harnett
bklshblues
or two ago. I don't have much to offer beyond the complaints you
listed above, but I can say I didn't enjoy my time there. I was
endlessly disappointed by the apathetic management and the type of
tenants they seem to attract (housewives whose hobby is painting
horses, etc). For the atmosphere and amenities they offer, their space
is way, way overpriced. Expect leaks, floods, outages, etc. I was
really disappointed because the idea of a renovated packing plant
converted to artist studios sounds great, like something Louisville
really needs. Unfortunately they priced all the starving artists out
of their space and now most of the people there are "hobby artists"
with other means of paying their bills. Not that there's anything
wrong with that, just that I'm not sure it's what you're really
looking for. So there's my two cents. Hope it helps.