Propeller Art Gallery | Our Space Saving Story – Peter Friedrichsen

In August 2023, Artscape Inc, our past landlord, announced it would enter receivership. On February 11, 2025, Propeller Art Gallery purchased its space. 

Propeller Art Gallery is in Toronto’s Queen West Triangle district at 30 Abell Street. This area, just south of Queen and west of Dovercourt has a multitude of relatively new condominiums. Previously, it was an industrial area. Its transformation came about after the City of Toronto designated it a regeneration zone in 2004. At that time, decommissioned factories and warehouses were home to many local artists. The 48 Abell warehouse, originally part of John Abell’s sprawling turn of the 20^th century machine factory, was an especially attractive location for artists, providing economical live/workspaces with high ceilings. 

The area’s new regeneration designation attracted developers. By 2006, community groups had organized, the most significant being Active 18 -named after the ward, and Model 48 -the tenants of 48 Abell. Meanwhile, Artscape born out of the Toronto Arts Council in the 80’s had established itself in managing affordable art spaces. Both Active 18 and Artscape collaborated, becoming a local force of influence on the City, developers, and the OMB. 

They advocated for the preservation of artist spaces including those threatened by the planned demolition of the 48 Abell warehouse. Active 18 went further on a number of fronts including advocating for a park to be established between Lisgar and Abell Streets, of sufficient size that it would accommodate art events and not be overwhelmed by the high-density planned developments. The area was already park-starved, and the planned density increase further justified this request. Additionally, they argued for public lanes to surround the new developments, giving pedestrians free and easy access. They pushed for the historic City- occupied mental health building at Queen and Lisgar (previously a Carnegie Library) to be repurposed for arts use -now The Theatre Centre. Despite the headwinds, success was achieved on several fronts after years of effort. 

Artscape succeeded in purchasing 70 condo units at-cost from Urbancorp, developer of the new 38 Abell Triangle Lofts building, in exchange for increased density benefits. The units were reserved exclusively for qualifying artists as live/workspaces. Artscape re-sold 48 of the units, retaining 20 as rentals, all for artists at below-market rates. Two remaining ground floor units were transformed into the Artscape Triangle Gallery with gallery space rentals starting in 2011.

In 2014, Artscape decided to discontinue their short-term rentals and lease the gallery to a long-term tenant. At this time, Propeller was struggling with rising rents at its 984 Queen West location. Propeller’s Past Chair, Joseph Muscat, learned of the opportunity and, after negotiations, Propeller signed a 10-year renewable lease. Although this marked the beginning of Propeller’s new home, the transition was difficult, involving gallery renovations and the loss of foot traffic due to ongoing construction in the area.

The Loss of Artscape

Artscape had a proven model of managing arts spaces and collaborating with developers and the City to secure affordable artist spaces. However, as they took on larger projects, financial pressures mounted, and the pandemic further exacerbated the situation. In August 2023, Artscape announced it would enter receivership.

After the announcement, we were in shock, as we had no idea how things would proceed. We started in with a Propeller letter campaign to Mayor Chow, Councillor Bravo and several other city councillors. We learned that Artscape’s default was being taken seriously by the City and its legal team, which was sorting out a complex web of legal agreements involving multiple stakeholders. The review went on for several months after which a second notice in November mentioned that Propeller Gallery would be sold by the receiver. Other spaces being put on the block were arts tenant spaces at Youngplace and affordable housing units at 38 Abell and 210 Simcoe.

First Hope

In September 2023, we had our first meeting with Councillor Bravo’s team to discuss our situation. While no specific plan was put forward at that time, we were encouraged that they were interested in assisting us. This gave us hope that at least our concerns were being heard. Early in December 2023, we were connected with City Cultural Affairs who suggested that this could be an opportunity to purchase the property at a reduced price. However, they were not at this point committing to assisting financially. 

With our space located in the West Queen West neighbourhood, purchasing even at a discount, would be challenging for a small non-profit. Shortly thereafter, Cultural Affairs connected us with Heritage Canada. We heard back from them in late December when they suggested that its Canada Cultural Spaces Fund (CCSF) may be able to assist. In the spring of 2024, we applied and were approved for up to 50% of our acquisition costs to a maximum. This brought us part way to our goal but we still had a big gap to fill. We continued to investigate other funding sources including Banks, Foundations, Land Trusts…etc.

A City Grant!

In exchange for developers being granted increased density, they would pay a community benefit charge to the City. These “Section 37” funds are allocated for future community use. With the extensive re-developments in the Queen West Triangle area, funds were available in our ward. In mid-2024, Councillor Bravo made a financial assistance proposal to City Council, which approved an allocation of these funds towards Propeller’s purchase of the gallery space. This gave us new momentum, bringing us closer to our goal.

Our Donors

We ran a very successful gap-closing donation campaign in the summer of 2024. The robust community support was a testament to Propeller’s deep roots in the arts community, reaching back almost three decades. We were excited to see the enthusiasm and support for our initiative coming from so many Propeller friends. With this final support pillar in place, we were able to make a successful competitive bid.

In the End

As of mid-February 2025, all the actively leased commercial Artscape spaces were purchased either by their tenants, or through a Foundation and Land Trust. The work/live units at 38 Abell, and 210 Simcoe were acquired by the City.

While Artscape is no longer with us and Active 18 has dissolved, we owe the preservation of art spaces in our Queen West Triangle to their years of effort working with The City, that without, the Triangle would be just another high-density condo development.

Acknowledgements

We are deeply grateful to those who provided funding, guidance, and support, including Heritage Canada (CCSF), City of Toronto Ward 9, City of Toronto Cultural Affairs, Inspirit Foundation, our many Propeller donors, and the dedicated volunteer efforts of our members and Board of Directors.

Special thank yous to our Space Saving Committee: Susan Ruptash, Past Treasurer, for her tenacious efforts in working with me over the past 18 mos on this complex project, and Frances Patella for her enthusiastic support. Snaige Sileika who kicked off the donor campaign idea and ran with it under Ruth Maude’s digital expertise. Michelle Letarte for organizing the City’s press conference. Keijo Tapanainen for the donor poster and wall plaque design. Doris Purchase and Tracy Thomson for the Life Without Art -stark wall mural and eyeful egg at Queen and Abell. Lisa Johnson for the follow-up communications with officials. And our staff, Tom Taylor and Karlene Ouellette for all of the in-gallery assistance, and web and social media postings.

Peter Friedrichsen, 
Past Chair, Propeller Art Gallery

Further Reading:

• Active 18
• Charles Campbell, Active 18 member
• Artscape Triangle Lofts Case Study