201 Studios

I had the privilege of visiting the up-and-coming 201 Studios this evening. Located in the Twin-Aire neighborhood of Indy's Near-Eastside, 201 Studios is a unique 61,000 square foot building that started life in 1901 and has gone through a handful of incarnations before falling into a bit of disrepair following its donation to an Indy-area non-profit that simply couldn't handle the maintenance for the behemoth of a building. Picked up by Pollak Investments, 201 Studios is gradually improving and has become an industrial-tinged space offering artist studios, office studios, flex space, and warehouse. As I was touring this evening, I learned that a micro-brewery, Kismetic Brewery, is even destined for this fabulous building. Tenants include DThornburg Diversions, High Frequency Arts, Owens & Crawley, Rebecca Zink, Christopher M. Dance, Midwest Sports Broadcasting, and a host of others. 201 Studios has two levels. It's in a residential area. Given the unique nature of the building, it's a secure building and I felt safe throughout my time in the building. It has an incredible energy. It seems like most of the artists have a somewhat tech theme to their art, though that's certainly not an absolute. There's also a gallery space that hosts special events. Most of the artists seem to use a back parking lot that is also secure. As should likely be expected, accessibility is a bit hit-and-miss. There's a concrete ramp at the front door. I'm not quite willing to call it ADA compliant, though it's an obviously intentional effort and it's pretty solid. Because I was visiting a specific tenant, I entered through the back via a more industrial area that was a bit steep with a bit of a lip to it. However, I was able to manage it fairly well. Tenants seem remarkably collaborative and all speak highly of RJ Pollak, the landlord who is also a former property manager at the Stutz. This building has a definite Stutz-lite vibe but perhaps feels more like Circle City Industrial Complex. There's a second floor that's accessible via a freight elevator. There's an outdoor area that had me visualizing my dream of a memorial labyrinth. The building is right next to a train track and right as I pulled up a train was coming through. It was pretty awesome. I can't lie. If my community work produced a bit more of an income, I could easily see myself basing my work here. This would be an incredible space to work in. While it's a still growing building that still needs some work, there's a positive energy here and a tremendous atmosphere that I fell in love with and I can't wait to visit again. 201 Studios also has a strong social media presence and it's nice to see promotion of its tenants on a consistent basis. This is a tremendously promising space and I look forward to watching it grow.