Art League School Seeks New Space as It Loses Duke Street Annex

The Art League School, a staple of Old Town Alexandria’s arts community, is preparing for a move out of its Duke Street annex as the city moves ahead with plans to redevelop its waterfront.

The nonprofit, which has headquarters in the Torpedo Factory and another annex on Madison Street, ideally would like to consolidate its two annexes for more efficiency, according to Executive Director Linda Hafer.

As a founding organization of today’s Torpedo Factory, the school would like to remain there and find additional space nearby.

“Although nothing is formalized, our current landlord is actively pursuing a sale of the property related to developer interest caused by the City’s Waterfront Redevelopment project,” the school said in a digital newsletter sent to the school community.

Hafer said she understands that the seller is looking to develop the Duke Street space as a small hotel. The Art League currently pays rent to the Cummings Investment Trust, which, according to Hafer, is interested in selling the property as “there’s a lot more value in selling it to a developer than renting to a nonprofit.”

The school has been looking for new space in the neighborhood, but has had difficulty finding a loft-style space that’s “appropriate for an art school in Alexandria,” Hafer said, adding that the school has been working diligently with city planning staff, the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, City Council and the City Manager’s office “but we haven’t been able to identify anything yet.”

Val Hawkins, who sits on the school's advisory board and also heads up the AEDP, said the city recognizes that the Art League is "a valuable part of the fabric of Alexandria."

"Everybody is working quite hard on this issue and hope that they can stay in Old Town," he said. 

Hawkins said the city is helping the school as much as it can but it's up to the Art League to come up with the fundraising and get the money to lease a new space.

"The city has to treat all nonprofits equally," he said.

The school seeks to replace about 7,000 to 10,000 square feet of space that will be lost to it with a sale. The Duke Street building is about 20,000 square feet, of which 10,000 square feet is a parking lot, and 10,000 is used for classrooms and storage. Only about 5,000 square feet of the building at 1 Duke Street is either heated or air-conditioned.

“We’ve gotten a lot of good support and have a lot of good will with the city as it recognizes that the Art League is a valuable resource,” said Hafer. “A lot of residents and visitors take classes there as do their children. Our services also support the business community. Our students are going out to dinner after class and shop at many of the stores.”

The move is set for September 2012, but the school said that regardless of a sale of the Duke Street Annex, the fall 2011 through summer 2012 academic calendar will continue to operate in the current space.

The Art League plans to reach out to its community in the coming months to gain additional support for its services and to remind the city of its vitality as an important economic and cultural component of Old Town, according to the e-newsletter.