In many cases, economic development requires vision and determination combined with a workable plan and some sort of financial incentive from the city.
Sometimes, it just needs some air conditioning.
The latter is the case for Jeff Edelson, founder of Mixon Studios.
An artist who had outgrown his space in the CoRK arts district in Riverside, he started looking for a similar set-up where he could construct his assemblages of wood and metal artifacts.
When he saw a soon-to-be abandoned chemical processing facility for sale, he knew he had found his new studio.
In 2015, Edelson purchased the former Excel Chemical Co. in Mixon Town, a neighborhood between Interstates 10 and 95 and West Beaver Street, an area designated by the city as economically distressed.
After about a year of cleaning up the property, removing the remnants of the chemical factory and building out studio spaces in a 5,000-square-foot utility building, Edelson moved in and was soon followed by painters, textile artists and a knife-maker.
He has since purchased two adjoining vacant lots along McCoy’s Creek that are being transformed into a sculpture garden and public event space.
He appeared Wednesday before the City Council Finance Committee, seeking a $34,000 grant from the Northwest Jacksonville Economic Development Fund that will be used to install an HVAC system in the largest building on the property, a 10,000-square-foot office and warehouse.
“It’s a little something to say we appreciate what you’re doing,” Edleson said to the committee.
The grant would be amortized at 20 percent per year over five years.
According to the legislation, Edelson has invested nearly $450,000 to purchase four parcels of property between Corbett Street and McCoy’s Creek.
In addition to studio space for Edelson and the other artists in a 5,000-square-foot building, the “campus” as he calls it, also is the headquarters for HAS Art Solutions, a full-service art procurement firm that specializes in commercial and corporate installations.
Described by Edelson as his anchor tenant partner, HAS set up its administrative department in 2,000 square feet of the 10,000-square-foot former chemical factory and uses the rest of the building for production and gallery space.
That’s where the HVAC is needed.
Heather Sams, founder of HAS, said not having a climate-controlled production space limits when employees can work, which can hamper making deadlines demanded by corporate art collectors.
“During the hot months, we can only work from 6 a.m. to about 3 p.m.,” she said. “With climate control, we can take on larger projects, work longer hours and hire more people.”
Sams and her staff cut the ribbon on their new offices and workspace last week and are having an open house at 6 p.m. Saturday.
It’s also the opening of a new exhibit, “Bittersweet: The Embodiment of the Heart,” that will be on display in the warehouse through March 3.
Sams said children are welcome to attend the open house and will be invited to play in the sculpture garden while their parents view the exhibit.
“We want to do away with the myth that art is elitist,” she said.
Four other exhibits are scheduled to open through October.
Edelson has one more building yet to be transformed — a 1,000-square-foot utility building constructed of coquina that was covered in vegetation when he bought the property.
“I’m anxious to see who moves in. Hopefully, it will be a creative collective of artists,” he said.
When that happens, Edelson said the process to convert a former factory in an economically-depressed neighborhood into a vibrant center of creativity and entrepreneurship will be complete.
“We have put a two-square-block area back on the map,” he said.
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