ARTWORKS MARKS ITS 25TH YEAR IN TRENTON
By Tom Ogren – September, 2013
Trenton’s visual arts center, Artworks, celebrates its 25th year in Trenton having opened to the public in September, 1988. The former Sears warehouse was acquired by the City for a visual arts center in the mid-1980’s to complement the City’s performing arts venue, the Mill Hill Playhouse. Its conversion into an arts center, with a large gallery, workshop/classroom areas, and artist studio space, won an Adaptive Re-Use Award from the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association in 1989.
From Warehouse to Arts Center: A Brief History
After the Sears store on Stockton Street closed in the late 1970’s, Trenton’s Director of Housing and Development Tom Ogren had his eye on the former Sears warehouse building as being especially well suited for an arts center. Its location was easily accessible from Rt. 1 and adjacent to the City’s best known example of urban revitalization, the Mill Hill area. More importantly, there was ample nearby parking and the building offered many features ideal for an arts center with an inviting ambiance and a sizeable amount of wide open interior space.
With Mayor Arthur Holland’s support of the project, negotiations to acquire the warehouse building were initiated in the mid-1980’s with the new owner of the Sears property which included the former Sears store, the warehouse and the adjacent parking lot. The owner had planned to demolish the warehouse to expand the adjacent parking lot since he had arranged with the state to lease the former Sears building for State offices and needed additional parking. To satisfy the owner’s desire for more parking and avoid having to pay for the warehouse building, the owner was offered a small adjacent parking area the City owned in exchange for the deed to the warehouse building. The offer was accepted and the warehouse building was saved.
The next hurdle to overcome was securing funding to transform the building into an arts center. The City took the first step by allocating $150,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds toward the estimated $300,000 cost of renovation work. The State of New Jersey was targeted as the next potential funding source. A request to help find additional funds went out to then State Senator Gerald Stockman who often attended early morning weekly meetings with Mayor Holland and his top aides. Through Senator Stockman’s efforts, a $150,000 grant for the arts center was included as a line item in an upcoming appropriations bill. After the bill was passed by the legislature, the Governor’s office (which could have had the Governor line item veto the grant) allowed the grant to remain in the appropriations bill signed by the Governor after being satisfied by the City that the project was worthwhile.
The basic layout of the arts center was proposed by then Trenton resident Mary Yess, Executive Director of the Princeton Art Association (later known as Artworks) and David Orban. Based on the proposed layout, plans and specifications for the arts center were prepared by the architectural firm of Clarke, Caton and Hintz. Upon completion of renovation work in 1988, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held in late September of that year for the opening of Artworks (which leased the building from the City of Trenton). The event was attended by some 400 people with several State officials, including the State Treasurer, the Secretary of State, and State Senator Stockman, in attendance.
Tom Ogren, former Director, Department of Housing and Development, 1978-1990.