Living on the edge, Apparently no one does

The question that we all have about this project is, "Where are the residents of Edge?" There are many businesses, and abandoned warehouses up and down Monroe and Marshall Ave. However, there seems to be a shortage of livable spaces in the Edge district.

As Larry from the DMC informed us, here is the breakdown of available livable space in Edge.

· Fielder Square, 359 units, (not all of which are in our Edge border, though majority are, and whose residents may actually feel more like they’re in the Downtown core area)

· Madison Tower, 147 units (whose residents arguably may not feel like they’re really part of the Edge neighborhood)

· Edge at Monroe Condos, 25 units

· Madison 19 Condos, 19 units

So, on a really good day, there are 44 units that are directly in Edge. Unless these peoples are clowns and like the squeeze in tight places, then that doesn't leave alot of residents in Edge. Also, as Larry pointed out, many of the residents that are close to Edge would most likely identify as downtowner (or wannabe Yankees). On the bright side, that makes our job of identifying and communicating with residents a little easier. It also makes me want to shift the focus from trying to explicitly find residents and talk with the people we know to be in Edge, the business owners.

I know for a fact that they have an opinion on things that they would and wouldn't want to see in the district that their businesses are in. There are also some great businesses that bring in many, many people that are not from the Edge district or downtown. In the area alone we have K2 Lounge (they bring a significant black population to Edge on the weekends), The Dizzy Bird, Spectrum ( the LGBT community is huge in that space), Sun Studios, Dominos, etc. If we connect with these owners and see what kind of art that they may won't we can have a better citywide buy in. These businesses have built in customers that can influence alot that goes on in the area.

With all the abandoned warehouses and buildings over in Edge, we could get some real support to start turning these properties into artist residencies. Similar to the project my friend Kerry Hayes is apart of: Artspace South Main Lofts - a proposed $14M development on South Main that would provide 58 units of live/work space for working artists and creative professionals. We need to raise an additional $2.85M in private donations this year in order to move forward! http://www.artspace.org/southmainartspacelofts

As I look over the Edge, I don't see a bottom, I see the sky, and it’s the limit.