Tenants renting studios and offices at the Olneyville artists’ hub, Atlantic Mills, say they plan to escalate their fight against developers who are under contract to purchase the historic building. That’s after, they say, the buyers declined to recognize their commercial tenants’ union in a meeting last week.
Tenants say they need the union to collectivize their effort to fight back against what they fear could come: mass evictions and rent hikes. Once the sale goes through, buyers Eric Edelman and Bob Berle say they plan to offer new leases to tenants in good standing who do not have active leases.
The tenants say the current owners have kept rents low, helping preserve the historic cultural hub at Atlantic Mills and they fear that legacy could erode under the new owners.
Among the most famous artists who got their start with studios in the building are Shepherd Fairey, who designed the famous HOPE poster that Barack Obama used in his first presidential campaign and Kara Walker, known for her silhouettes that often feature the struggles of enslaved people in the American south. Buildings with similar histories, such as Fort Thunder, have already met their demise.
“It’s a total cultural hub,” Lu Heintz, an artist who works out of the WARP collective studio at Atlantic Mills, said. “It’s not just a resource for the people that are in the building. It’s a total cultural hub for the Latino community, for the arts community.”
She added that the “building changing would ricochet outward to affect all of Olneyville and all of Providence.”
The Atlantic Mills is also home to Providence’s oldest and longest-running flea market, Big Top Flea, which runs on weekends.
Cindy Miranda, a board member for the Olneyville Neighborhood Association, says the building has also become an increasingly important place for the coalescing of multiple Latino cultures in Providence. The building hosts English lessons for Spanish speakers and citizenship classes.
“This is the heart of the community. Everyone goes there,” Miranda said. “It’s walkable. It’s somewhere where, you know, they can connect to community culture.”
Tenants also point out that once the building went under contract, the sellers began working with a new management company that has begun evicting some tenants.
Edelman and Berle say they plan to continue using the company, Acropolis Management Services, which they say has only evicted tenants who have not paid rent in over six months. Edelman said in a text message that Acropolis has “done an admirable job professionalizing management, responding to maintenance requests, and communicating regularly with the tenants.”
Tenants say they hope to win more political support for their cause, to continue to hold protests like one held near Berle’s office in Wayland Square this past Saturday, and to hire a lawyer.
Commercial tenants’ unions lack legal protections like the ones workers’ unions have, but the commercial tenants with Atlantic Mills say they believe taking some collective action could make them more effective.
For their part, the buyers say they are “making every effort to engage in good faith with the local community.”
This story was reported by The Public’s Radio.
