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Ice House building renovated into arts center to give teens a creative outlet

By Christopher Sanchez
Monday, June 25, 2007

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When Cyrus Gould looks inside the Ice House, he sees more than a dank warehouse and stripper poles.

"It's totally a blank canvas," Gould said. "It's exciting for me. I see it as having so much potential."

Turning the former strip club at First Street and Marquette Avenue into an art center for teens has been the focus of a debate for the past few years.

Mayor Martin Chavez and young people say the building is in an area rich with culture, while opponents maintain the location is dangerous and a magnet for crime.

Despite the conflict, teens next year will use the building to paint, sculpt, play music and hold all-ages concerts. It will be a place to call their own.

The city bought the Ice House for $500,000 in 2006. In late May, the City Council appropriated $800,000 for renovation and planning.

The next step is to hire a design team. Councilor Isaac Benton said he wants Albuquerque's youth to help out.

"If I had it my way . . . kids should design it or be big part" of the design process, Gould, 25, said. "I would leave it very warehousey."

City officials are unsure when the renovation will begin. If all goes well, the center could be up and running by next year, Benton said.

Katie Larntz, who has worked closely with the project with Gould, said the center should be like Santa Fe's Warehouse 21, a nationally acclaimed teen center.

"I am really just hoping that if a kid walks in and wants to screen print, he can go and do that. If someone wants to come in and paint, we'll have the easel all set up," she said. "Basically, a place where a person can come in and do whatever they want and feel comfortable and safe in the same process."

Benton said he wants teens to run it with little adult supervision.

Larntz, 23, said the center will give young people something to do.

"When I was a teenager, I had major issues with Albuquerque," she said. "There were two things to do: go to the mall, or go to a party and get inebriated, which I didn't do."

Gould said there should be a half-pipe for skateboarding. Larntz said she wants to see roller rink in the building, along with a theater, a darkroom and a stage for performances, she said.

"I see show space, a place for bands to play," she said.

Though the 26,000-square-foot building makes for a large canvas, city officials say the center will take up less than half of that space. Most of the basement, a former ice vault, is unusable because the ceilings are too low, city officials say.

That's something Councilor Michael Cadigan has been saying all along. Cadigan said he supports a teen center, but the city should have used an existing community center.

"As a parent, I would not feel safe sending him or her to the building," he said. "It is literally an old ice house. . . . It seems like a place where unsupervised teens can go and get into trouble or be unsafe."

Benton said there is clearly a difference between a community center and an arts center.

"The community center sounds fine, but it's not really devoted to things that teens want to do - maybe louder music and not wanting to be bothered by adults or older kids," he said.

Plus, he said, it's right where Albuquerque's culture thrives.

"It's not right on Central where all the bars are," he said, "but it's still Downtown, a hip location."

Larntz said the center will keep young people out of trouble.

"I believe kids should have something to do during their forming years," she said. "They need an outlet to form who they are."