Boston to develop new affordable artist workspaces, housing

Boston is pushing ahead with plans to convert a Brighton property into affordable artist studios and housing, though the project is still in its early stages of developent.

As part of the permitting process for redeveloping the Sound Museum site, a longtime neighborhood music hub, private developer IQHQ Inc. agreed to transfer a nearby property at 290 N. Beacon St. to the city. That building will now be dedicated to artist workspaces and community use.

The city intends to develop a minimum of 40,000 square feet of replacement musician rehearsal/recording studio space, between 60 and 150 affordable residential apartments, as well as an additional 30,000 SF of arts and culture space at the site.

The city officially took ownership of the property in March, with the Boston Housing Authority (BHA) set to serve as the designated developer due to the building’s proximity to BHA’s Faneuil Gardens public housing development. 

In the months since, the BHA has issued requests for proposals to bring on a co-developer and design team. BHA and MOAC also plan to host a series of community meetings (yet to be scheduled) in the upcoming year and to conduct a “listening and learning tour” to understand the city’s artist community needs.

If completed, it would be the first time Boston has permanently secured a physical space for combined arts, cultural, and housing use, city officials said.

The Sound Museum, located at 155 North Beacon Street, shuttered in 2023 when IQHQ acquired it. The company’s plan to build nearly 400,000 square feet of lab and office space there has been approved, though construction has not yet begun.

For Boston’s creative community, the project represents a potential win in an ongoing struggle against artist displacement. In the last ten years, a number of artist spaces – the commercial artist space at The Piano Craft Guild in the South End and the EMF building in Cambridge’s Central Square, to name a few – have shuttered, pushed out by gentrification and rising rents. 

“ What I hear about with the most urgency, and often desperation, is the risk of displacement of artists and creatives,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said at a forum on Wednesday. “That is a space issue. It’s an affordability issue, and it’s also a just resource issue overall. And we’ve been trying to plug the gaps in all of those areas.”

However, there are signs to be hopeful. Efforts are underway to secure permanent artist workspaces across the city, such as at Central Street Studios in Somerville. The Arts and Business Council is on the cusp of purchasing the artist space and placing it into a permanent cultural land trust.

We want to know: Is Boston doing enough to support local artists? Tell us by filling out the form or e-mailing us at [email protected], and your response may appear in a future Boston.com article.

Annie Jonas is a Community writer at Boston.com. She was previously a local editor at Patch and a freelancer at the Financial Times.