Did you feel like you were living in the mall this holiday season? My final guests of the year, Michael Townsend and Adriana Yoto, along with 6 others, did just that. These 8 artists lived in their 750 square foot apartment, complete with an entertainment system, off and on for 4 years until they were caught by mall security last fall.

When the story first broke, I thought these guys would be fun to have on the show and it turns out Rich and my good friend Sally Kilcullen had an interesting conversation with them about the Art scene in Providence, and the role of Real Estate in the arts world. The ability to live cheaply in old mill spaces brought about an incredible underground arts scene in Providence through the 90’s. Then, as Fort Thunder and other places in Olneyville were raised to make way for new construction, the Mall represented to these artists everything that was wrong with this new wave of development. So, they dealt with it in a rather unique way: Micro-Developing. Because, according to Yoto, “It was grossly underutilized space in a very prime Real Estate location downtown”. Adriana also has an interesting theory about space in cities being classified as:

1: The Defined - purposeful buildings.
2: The Undefined - the infrastructure.
3: The Forgotten - abandoned mills and underutilized property.

Does the Forgotten destroy the city or does it offer potential?  and who should decide what that potential should be? The ongoing battle seems to be that once the artists embrace these forgotten areas, bringing with them the creative capital that helps to make cities better for everyone; the area becomes too expensive for those artists.

Click here to learn more about “Living at the mall”.

Here’s a short clip in studio with Rich Epstein:

This Week’s Real Estate Insight:A vibrant arts and cultural base culture can have an enormous impact on our economy. Communities that invest in the arts are well positioned to compete and thrive in the 21st century creative economy.