Everly Plaza
A new affordable housing project in the Near Southside recently acquired its first tenant.
Everly Plaza, located at 1805 Eighth Ave. on the former home of Massey’s Restaurant, is an 83,505-square-foot, mixed-income senior residential community developed by Saigebrook Development and O-SDA Industries. The apartment complex’s 88 housing units, of which 79 will be reserved for those of specified area median-income brackets, will be exclusively available to rent by individuals 62 years and older.
The target demographic, says development associate for Saigebrook Industries Alice Cruz, are retirees looking to relocate nearer to their family and seniors who are unable to afford or maintain a full house. Saigebrook is hoping to receive the certificate of occupancy on the building in May.
Everly Plaza recently donated the 2,494-square-foot roadside retail space on the property to Near Southside, Inc.’s Art South program for use as a community arts center, but Art South is still in the early stages of configuring its vision for the space.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for us to partner with other artist collectives,” says Megan Henderson, Near Southside, Inc.’s director of events and communications. “What we hope to do is bring those groups in and give them a month where they get to program the space.”
In addition to a gallery, Henderson says the space could also accommodate live demonstrations, films, conversations with artists, and more.
When Every Plaza purchased the land where Massey’s once stood, it inherited the former restaurant’s 12-foot box sign. A permanent and prominent fixture of the new gallery will be a repurposed version of the sign designed by 15-year-old artist Caya Crum. In January, Crum was commissioned to complete the project through an intensive competition against artists with more than 50 years of experience.
“It’s kind of like a time capsule which will live in there forever,” Henderson says. “She will be the first artist to be shown in the space.”
Over the last 25 years, the Near Southside has evolved from a somewhat neglected area into a vibrant artistic community where artists have been at the helm of curating the culture since the beginning.
“Some of the very first people to come in to use and renovate these cool industrial spaces were artists. They were drawn to the area and could feel it had a lot of potential,” Henderson says.
Around the same time Art South was designing its headquarters at Everly Plaza, the nonprofit sought a partnership with Minneapolis-based development company, Artspace, to devise plans for creative incubators — that is, residential, studio, and gallery spaces under one roof.
“In the interim of the big development project, we now have Everly Plaza to begin testing that model,” Henderson says. “We can transform this retail space into a community art gallery.”
As construction nears the end for both the Everly Plaza project as well as Art South’s retail space, the nonprofit anticipates being able to open the space to the community during the summer.
“We appreciate the partnership with Near Southside and the city,” Cruz says. “The city gave us some funding and incentives, and the Near Southside has been helpful with all sorts of things, from zoning to trees to taking over a whole retail space originally intended to be three different storefronts."
