Around the country, public art has become a hot commodity that is being used to spark nearby home prices in blighted neighborhoods and to turn vacant land into places where people want to live, work and play. Builders are increasingly incorporating art both into these emerging neighborhoods and into their own developments, as they compete to bring in both discerning buyers and tenants willing to pay top dollar. Think 202 restored vintage street lamps that line a plaza outside the Los Angeles County Museum of Art—The Urban Light exhibit—that has become a popular place for children to play and for adults to snap photos, encouraging lingering. It’s all part of the “new urbanism.” Here, Realtor.com explains some of the reasons why public art can affect nearby home prices.
Public art can help to revitalize neighborhoods
Beyond boosting property values, community art can help revitalize neighborhoods, according to the Urban Land Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based land and real estate research and education group. For example, a formerly sleepy suburban Brookland neighborhood in northeast Washington, D.C., now houses the Monroe Street Market. The five-block, mixed-use development opened in 2014 and includes a community center and three residential buildings. Two of the buildings have 27 affordable artist’s studios on the ground floor—prime real estate normally reserved as retail space. The artist’s studios are equipped with glass doors, part of an art walk, which brings the community into the experience and attracts tourists to the area. Although there’s no hard data on how the studios have impacted the development, the buildings have leased quicker and have higher retention rates. When the development opened, the median home list price in its ZIP code was $474,000, according to Realtor.com data. By 2017, the median price had risen to $598,400—a 26.2 percent increase in just three years. It’s the broader context of using art and culture to connect the community, and to provide places that attract people and provide economic opportunities
Art makes new buildings more attractive to prospective residents
Many builders also make a point of following artists to the next trendy neighborhoods—and incorporating their work into the high-end condo and rental buildings that are going up to make them more appealing to buyers and renters. When New York City developer David Brause built out a vacant lot in Long Island City, a New York neighborhood known for its graffiti art, he tried to preserve what he described as a “breathtaking” image of a rooster that had been painted with graffiti on a 15-foot retaining wall in the back of the lot. He was not successful, so his company took a photo of the piece, blew it up and put it in the lobby of the 38-story rental tower they built, named The Forge.
The neighborhood is known for its graffiti art, since it had been home to 5Pointz, a former factory covered in curated aerosol art that become an international destination. It was demolished in 2014 to make way for two luxury high-rises that are under construction at the site, and there still are plenty of art galleries and museums in the neighborhood.
