Authored By chloe.morrison

A 75,000-square-foot building on 14th Street is slated to be revamped into a creative complex that will house a new art nonprofit.

There’s also room for commercial tenants, such as a restaurant or brewery.

Artist facilitator Charlotte Caldwell recently bought the building, which is at the corner of 14th Street and Holtzclaw Avenue.

Her new nonprofit, called Stove Works, will anchor the property, taking up about 25,000 square feet.

She’s had the vision for an artist residency program and workspace for years.

“It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “I feel like I’m totally out of my mind, but you have to be crazy to realize anything, really-small or big.”

Caldwell could have purchased a smaller space, but she has a history with this building.

Her great-grandfather and grandfather owned the building for years when it was Tennessee Stove Works and later Modern Maid.

Her great-grandfather bought the building in the ’50s, she said. He assembled and distributed cast-iron stoves out of it, and her grandfather later took over and shifted the business to electric stoves.

“It’s so much fun to come back into a space that my great-grandfather and grandfather inhabited,” she said. “This came on the market, and it was just too serendipitous.”

The name of her new venture-Stove Works-is a nod to the building’s industrial history.

Components of the nonprofit

Caldwell has a vision for three main components of Stove Works.

The first part is a residency program, which will provide temporary housing and studios for artists, she said.

There will be a rigorous application process, and she expects to have 10 or fewer artists in residence, she said.

She wants to cater to emerging artists and provide them space and time to work.

The second part will be exhibition space managed by Mike Calway-Fagen, who will organize programming, such as artist lectures and other events. He will be the curator and director of exhibitions.

The third component, and “the most essential,” is education, Caldwell said.

There will be an education classroom for workshops and collaborations with different organizations and groups, she said.

Commercial space

Jack Martin with Fletcher Bright Co. is working to fill the remaining 50,000 square feet, which will likely be a space for other creative industries, retail, or a restaurant or brewery.

It could also house artist studios or co-working space for nonprofits.

“We are really targeting tenants that are going to be able to give back to the overall mission of the space,” Martin said.

The net profit from the leased space will go back to Stove Works to support the nonprofit.

Martin said he hopes the development will animate the area, attract visitors and improve the area between the Southside and Highland Park.

The complex has a large courtyard that will be common space for tenants. And even before the rest of the facility is complete, Caldwell said she’s open to hosting events in the courtyard. Causeway recently had its annual Spark celebration there.

“The overall goal of the whole development is for all the tenants to interact,” Martin said.

The dream timeline to open is June 2018, but that’s “really optimistic,” Caldwell said.

Updated @ 2:23 p.m. on 5/22/17 to correct a factual error: Caldwell is an artist facilitator, not an artist, as originally reported.