Artists have long served as conduits for change in marginalized neighborhoods, braving difficult environments in exchange for low rent and often unwittingly paving the way for mainstream inhabitants. In the case of the Mount Rainier Artist Lofts, creative people were lured quite intentionally as pioneers for change in hopes of turning around the fate for Mount Rainier, Maryland, a small, deteriorating street-car suburb just a block from the border with the District of Columbia.
With the goal of reinventing the small, historic residential neighborhood, the Prince Georges County Redevelopment Authority, community activists, and local nonprofit groups combined forces to create the Gateway Arts District and develop a master plan for a 2-mile-long stretch of Rhode Island Avenue Extended, or Route 1, the area’s commercial corridor. Artspace, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit developer involved in the project, brought in Minneapolis-based HGA Architects and Engineers to help create, on the former site of three derelict businesses, a mixed-use building that would provide affordable live/work spaces for artists and their families.
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