AFR on the Frasers Property/Queen Street Studio partnership

An article in the Australian Financial Review this week featured the four-year partnership between Frasers Property Australia and Queen Street Studio. The project is a fantastic example of a successful, mutually beneficial relationship between property owners and creatives in the community:

‘But when Frasers bought the 5.8 hectare site in 2007, of more urgent concern was the empty and dilapidated streetscape of Kensington Lane, one side of the site where, among other premises, it now owned three large warehouses.

It needed a means of livening up Kensington Lane, and of mollifying a local community that was dubious about its redevelopment plans.

“We thought about providing temporary housing for homeless people, but it wouldn’t have been practical because of the state of the buildings,” Frasers group marketing manager Lisa McCutchion says. “And the requirement to bring the space up to code for commercial uses also ruled out having anyone pay rent for it.”

Meanwhile, Queen Street Studio, an artist-run initiative founded in 2007 to provide cheap studio and rehearsal areas for local artists, needed space, and lots of it.’

Claire Stewart, Australian Financial Review,14 June 2012

To read the full article click here.