Seattle’s Pioneer Square Historic District has long been a neighborhood of artists, but market forces in the 1990s began driving them out at an alarming rate. Hoping to preserve Pioneer Square’s status as an arts district, the Pioneer Square Community Development Organization invited Artspace to transform two adjoined turn-of-the-century buildings into facilities for artists. The TK (Tashiro Kaplan) Artist Lofts boasts 50 affordable live/work apartments for artists, as well as 21 studios/commercial arts spaces including gallery collectives like Cold Cube Press, Specialist, and Shift. Together with the Tashiro Arts Building, it has helped maintain Pioneer Square’s distinctive character, and is at the heart of Seattle’s legendary First Thursday Art Walk.
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Overview
City of Seattle Office of Housing, Glaser Financial Group, Inc., Impact Capital, Paramount Financial Group, Inc., RBC Dain Rauscher, Inc., U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Washington State Housing Finance Commission, and the Washington State Housing Trust Fund, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Raynier Institute & Foundation, Seattle Foundation, South Downtown Foundation, U.S. Bancorp Foundation, and Washington Mutual Foundation
2004
Architect:
Stickney Murphy Romine Architects
Development Partner:
Pioneer Square Community Association
Development Cost:
$12.2 million
Square Feet:
74,214
Units:
50 live/work units and 21 commercial art spaces
The Community
The TK filled the first floor with active businesses and sidewalk life.
Nora Liu, City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development
