The Upper Eastside and Little Haiti attract creative talent at affordable prices

Construction barriers have disappeared from the thoroughfare, more restaurants have popped up, and pedestrians have reemerged. But another noticeable shift in the makeup of the neighborhoods bordering Biscayne Boulevard in the Upper Eastside may be taking place, in the form of a cultural awakening.

Thanks to Art Basel and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, most talk of a culture hub in Miami has focused on Wynwood, and rightfully so. But something is happening to the north that could change -- or expand -- our artistic landscape.

One example: the stretch of NE 4th Court between 71st and 79th streets, in the colorful warehouses lining the west side. That’s where experimental performance artist Octavio Campos is opening up a multidisciplinary event and studio complex, to be called The Platform. Right now it’s still pretty raw, but the developer and owner of many of these warehouses, Ofer Mizrahi, is rehabbing the area, preserving some of the industrial feel of the warehouses, but modernizing them in an eco-friendly manner. Oh, and there are houses and trees just across the street. It all made Campos fall in love at first sight.

Campos, who heads up Camposition, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to new work, had been shopping around for a bigger space than his digs in Little Havana. His natural first choice, he says, was Wynwood. But he ran into one headache after another, including unairconditioned spaces and Art Basel interlopers outbidding him, even though he would be a permanent presence and not a December-only resident.

Then fate led him to Mizrahi’s property. It’s down the street from the Israeli businessman’s corporate showroom for Coverings Etc., an international company that sells natural stone and mosaics, is proud to be part of the “green building” movement, and sits in a stunningly restored, slate-gray warehouse. “That was it. I found a match [with Mizrahi],” effuses Campos. “He gets it,” he says about the sophisticated aesthetic of these spaces, likening them to the architecture of Berlin and Chicago.

Campos, whose theatrical productions are themselves sometimes compared to Berlin-style cabarets and are performed worldwide, already has lined up likely residents for what he says will be “the first center for interdisciplinary arts dedicated entirely to new and boundary-pushing work.” People such as sound-artist Gustavo Matamoros, musician Alfredo Triff, and choreographer Heather Maloney, who has eyed the neighboring indoor soccer field that Mizrahi installed as a prospective performance location.

During the day, The Platform will be studio-space for artists, and on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights it will be open for performances by the residents and others, and might just include a 10:00 p.m. cabaret show by Campos himself. All of it coming, says Campos, about mid-March.

Already ensconced on NE 4th Court are architect Richard Levine, a trombone player, and a skateboard designer. It will be a “campus” for the arts, predicts Campos.

A little farther north, at 531 NE 82nd Terr., one of Wynwood’s most popular galleries will be transplanting. Anthony Spinello is moving his operation uptown for a variety of reasons, but he knows what he will be gaining -- a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood with some foliage and restaurants. For better and worse, Wynwood remains a lonely place to stroll, to grab a cup of coffee, or to find shade. Campos and Spinello will be able to walk to any number of places, and visitors to their places will be able to do the same. Spinello plans his first exhibition for February 13.

A little west and a bit south, next to the train tracks on NE 1st Place, developer Denis Peters is unveiling his sprawling studio and exhibition complex, Railroad Arts. Behind walls already covered in commissioned murals are artists’ studios for $800, and soon-to-be smaller spaces for a whopping $150. Peters began developing places specifically with artists in mind a decade ago in Wynwood, along with well-known Wynwood property owner David Lombardi. And now, he says, it’s a natural progression for him to move north, where there are still undeveloped properties. “I want it to be totally dedicated to local artists and creators, and I want to keep it affordable” Peters explains, after describing the twin pleasures of his life as “art and culture, sprinkled with real estate.”

One project he’s already planned. “Wait, are you ready?” he asks. “The Miami Art Idol.” Together with the New World School of the Arts and Miami International University of Art and Design, a jury will choose a single winner from one of the schools (“Remember, it’s Idol, so there can only be one!” Peters exclaims) who will then get a free studio for a year.

One of the larger spaces, he says, will be used as a gallery and exhibition space for artists in the complex. Expect an official unveiling of Railroad Arts, along with a Website, sometime in mid-February.

It’s too early to say which of the projects will succeed, and art scenes tend to be organic, never really planned, and often fleeting. But something seems to be percolating, and it could be an interesting brew.

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