KITCHENER - For the past nine years Sarah Kernohan has created large abstract drawings on paper in her studio at the bottom of Cedar Street.

"The rent is really affordable," says Kernohan, who is among more than 30 artists working out of Globe Studios at 141 Whitney Place.

A few of the 25 studios in the former shoe factory are shared by more than one artist, but they are all facing a 14 per cent increase in rent this year. That's because the value of the building has doubled during the past three years. The higher the value, the higher the property taxes. The building is now valued at $1.37 million, up from $689,000 in 2016.

"There is a shortage of affordable space," says Kernohan, who currently pays $410 a month for her studio. She likes the studio a lot because it is large enough for her big works, and the rent has remained reasonable, increasing by $30 over her nine years there.

But it looks like that period of stable rents at Globe Studios is coming to an end. Increasing property values are driving up tax bills in cities across southern Ontario as former working-class areas transform into middle-class residential. Kernohan says that with median annual incomes of $27,000, artists in this region are more vulnerable than most to this gentrification.

So Kernohan wants the City of Kitchener and the Region of Waterloo to follow Toronto's lead and establish a new classification of properties for creative hubs. The hubs have property taxes cut by 50 per cent, easing upward pressure on studio rents.

The city's current economic development strategy, Make it Kitchener, is about supporting artists, makers and innovators in the creative sector. The city is developing a new strategy that will put greater emphasis on that sector. People now spend more time in front on their smartphones than their TVs, and the demand for engaging content on mobile devices will only increase.

Creating that content is a huge opportunity for artists in this region, and Kitchener's economic development office is looking for ways to support that work.

"If the city really wants to bolster creative industry maybe the city can make an initiative to have that property-tax class recognized not only in Kitchener, but across other cities in Ontario as well," says Kernohan.

The creative-hub program started last year in Toronto. Six properties there are classified as creative hubs and get a 50-per-cent break on property taxes. The program was started following huge increases in the property value of a well-known arts hub, 401 Richmond, where the artists faced big increases in rent.

Toronto had to work with the provincial agency that sets property values, and the provincial government, but since March 2018 it has the authority to designate individual properties as creative hubs and provide tax relief.

Isabella Stefanescu thinks that is a great idea.

Stefanescu has been with Globe Studios since it started in a former furniture factory on Erb Street West near the recreation complex. That's where the Globe Furniture Co., which made desks, church pews and chairs in the five-storey brick building, operated from 1910 to 1968. The artists' group took its name from the former manufacturer when it incorporated as a nonprofit in 1993.

When the City of Waterloo condemned the building, the artists moved into downtown Kitchener, taking over the third floor of 72 Victoria St. S. With two months' notice, they were kicked out in 1999 when the building was redeveloped.

"It was actually the first gentrified building in downtown Kitchener," says Stefanescu, who was on the board of Globe Studios at the time.

It too was a former factory, kitty corner to the Tannery.

"We realized the only way to have stable working space for artists in the community is to actually own something," says Stefanescu.

When the group saw the former Bonnie Stuart shoe factory was for sale, they put together a plan and asked the City of Kitchener for help. The city provided the artists' group with a $37,500 grant for its share of the down payment, an interest-free loan of $20,000 for renovations and a $75,000 loan at six per cent interest. The loans were repaid in full.

"We, the stable tenants in the building, actually pushed up the value of the building," says Stefanescu. "We have actually done a lot of improvements."

Improvements include new wiring, heating and bathrooms. Owning the building provided artists with stability for 20 years, but in a time of rapidly increasing real estate values, that is no longer true. Stefanescu says Globe Studios is a real, working cultural hub. Exactly like the six properties in Toronto that now have a break on property taxes.

"Exactly how are we to have a cultural community if we keep marginalizing and driving artists to the edges?" asks Stefanescu. "So it is a question of cultural policy, and it is a question of political will."

The artists at Globe Studios have the support of the city councillor who represents that area, Debbie Chapman. She likes the idea of creating a new classification for all creative hubs, not just a single one.

"I think it would be a great idea. I think it would benefit a lot of people in the region and the city," said Chapman. "So I am totally in support of it."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

tpender@therecord.com

Twitter: @PenderRecord